Recommended by Sarah Tuft

With the deft touch of an expert dramatist, Burbano explores questions of who we are and what makes us human in a journey that’s both wrenching and compassionate but always entertaining. SAPIENCE offers an empathetic look into the immigrant experience, the experience of being neurodivergent, the experience of facing one's mortality, and through Wookie, the experience of never being understood - one every human person knows all too well. Mostly, this beautiful play is about love…

A fully entertaining and loving portrait of silent film star Mabel Norman, MABEL TALKS is both biography and quiet commentary on misogyny’s power to limit, even destroy, exceptional talent. More so, Hoke accomplishes this with great humor and without a moment of exposition or a hint of proselytizing. A master class in how to craft a fully engaging solo show, Hoke makes brilliant work of stagecraft - blocking and set pieces - to give us an easily producible one-woman show that any actor would love to get her hands on.

After being blown away by the stunning SILUETA, I had to check out another one of Burbano’s collaborative projects. THE STRANGE EDUCATION OF MARINA SANTIAGO-SCRIPPS did not disappoint as the story of a young woman challenged—as so many young women often are—by forces that work to erode her -self-confidence but who finds her place in the world. The play is vibrant with a sense of seaside living and sensuality. I especially love how it draws parallels between the toxic masculinity at the heart of disingenuous sexual conquest and ruthless land development.

This gorgeous, insightful, achingly truthful play so perfectly captures a world I know all too well - the art world. SILUETA captures its passions, abuses, and cult of celebrity as well as the dynamics between men and women that continue to haunt many industries, especially the arts where insecure men feast on the adulation of young women. A brilliant two-hander in which both characters are fully realized as three-dimensional human beings, this play needs to be produced - now!

Khari Wyatt’s NEON BOOGIE is a searing soaring sensual drama about an artist trapped in the confines of her race and gender but who sees the way out, if only she can move past her trauma, her family’s desire to keep her safe, and the world’s desire to keep her confined and there. Wyatt gives us a pitch-perfect 1970s America as experienced by those most affected by the era’s social turmoil. NEON BOOGIE also gives us so much to love about its characters as they struggle and eventually shine.

Cindy Cooper's beautiful heart-wrenching play welcomes us into a world where most lives proceed predictably. It’s a happy place—one of family, community, geography. We can only know what we know—until that moment when everything changes, and our worldview along with it. A beautiful testament to our ability to rise to the occasion, "Here Lived (Hier Wohnte)" brings humanity to the idea of legacy.

Jordan Elizabeth Henry’s A WITNESS explores the terrain of grief, guilt, loss, and finally - courage - through its wholly unique, beautifully-drawn characters whose witty repartee leaps off the page and onto the stage. A wonderful testament to the power of forgiveness, especially of oneself...

Susan Miller’s 20TH CENTURY BLUES is a gorgeous testament to the power of female friendship and its ability to shift, accommodate, illuminate, and endure over time. It also chronicles the beauty of what we gain, not lose, through the process of aging. Every character in this ensemble piece is so richly drawn - each so specific and yet completely relatable. I loved watching them come together, cope together and bump softly against each other like party balloons. Just when we think they might pop, they transform into something even shinier.

What a powerful way to tell the story of repressed fury and grief! DONNA ORBITS THE MOON brings us into Donna’s world - which for many of a “coastal elite” like me, is quite foreign unless it’s being lampooned. Instead, August draws a tender dimensional portrait of a woman whose trauma is so relatable, whose heart is so big, and whose intentions are so earnest, we are rooting for her to take that one brave step, even before we know why.

Talk about complicated mother-daughter relationships!… this well-crafted, suspenseful, utterly human play is a cat-and-mouse game between pros, not to mention, it’s likely the only cat and mouse game that features a possibly dead dog. A tense but tender psychological thriller, DOG & BOY is also a powerful two-hander that needs to be produced!!