Recommended by Steven Hayet

Love is alive in New Jersey! Carbajal has taken the Missed Connections and connects them in a way that does not miss. The piece is the perfect combination of humor and heart showcasing the raw authenticity of everyday people trying to find love. A beautiful piece for an ensemble to be performed in both virtual or in-person settings.

A hysterical one minute piece succinctly breaking down Wagner's 15 hour 'The Ring of the Nibelung' in a way that would make SparkNotes jealous. Now what am I going to do with the other 14 hours and 59 minutes I set aside?

I was able to see Here There Be Pirates at The Barn Theatre and it was a big hit with the audience. When faced with the pressure of closing a high priced merger, don't buckle. Swashbuckle! An absurdly fun ten minutes. Read this play!

A beautiful one minute play that'll tear at your heart. Martin puts so much into this little piece that perfectly encapsulates paternal love.

I was lucky to catch a reading of Three Year Summer at Kitchen Dog Theater’s New Works Festival. Berryman has written a fantastic play taking audiences way back to the time when we all waited with eager anticipation for the 5th Harry Potter book and a new broadband internet that doesn't tie up the phone line. Tommi and Pat’s relationship is absolutely adorable and perfectly captures the awkwardness of adolescence…even the weird parts.

I was incredibly fortunate to see a reading of this play as part of Portland Stage's Livestream Series. Marianas Trench is an absolutely fantastic play. Sickles has a gift with words, even those that are [redacted]. Teddy and Anzor's pen-pal friendship will tug at your heart strings. This play will stick with you and have you thinking about it, and the world Sickles has created (or maybe predicted?) long after it ends. Can't wait to see it on stage. Well done!

An incredibly smart short play about friendship and anxiety. Haas’ choice to use a bear as the physical manifestation of Alice’s growing anxiousness is brilliant and gives directors ample opportunities for creative staging. So well done. Read it. Produce it. 

Wow. A beautiful and heartbreaking piece. In just one minute, Scott Sickles concisely and cleverly captures humanity's most basic need in a time we're supposed to be apart. Perfection in one page.

To quote Jed Bartlet, "What’s next?"
We live in a world where society is always ready to move on and focus on now. In a time where many Americans' attentions are concentrated on who is hoarding toilet paper, we've swept under the rug the crucial issues that are more than a few news cycles old. In Corona with ICE, Franky Gonzalez cleverly reminds us that the arrival of a new problem does not fix the old ones.

I love when a playwright can take a well known tale and flip it on its head. John Bavoso does that and then some with Prometheus Shrugs. Putting us in the shoes of the titan Prometheus and the bird sentenced to an eternity of eating liver, Bavoso has written an exceptionally charming and quirky comedy about friendship and the comfort of predictably. A perfect blend of heart and laughs, Prometheus Shrugs would be a highlight of any short play festival.