Recommended by Sarah Tuft

This play offers such a heartbreakingly tender window into a world of young men finding their way, not just to each other, but to their best selves, it feels a privilege to be on the journey with them. Though their obstacles are very specific - being queer, being young, being thwarted by the pandemic, being overwhelmed by mental health issues, being terrified of everything I just mentioned, their humanity is universal. OPTIONAL BOSS BATTLE crackles with authenticity, right down to the kind but powerless teacher. Get this play out into the world!!

This play is tour de force of dramatized self-revelation. Brutally honest, achingly tender, heartbreakingly sweet, and always triumphant - PALETAS DE COCO OR, THE LETTER UNSPOKEN OR, THE CHRISTMAS EVE PLAY follows our narrator as he digs deep into feelings and memory so he can become the loving father he never had.

This play is tour de force of dramatized self-revelation. Brutally honest, achingly tender, heartbreakingly sweet, and always triumphant - PALETAS DE COCO OR, THE LETTER UNSPOKEN OR, THE CHRISTMAS EVE PLAY follows our narrator as he digs deep into feelings and memory so he can become the loving father he never had.

Brave, intensely truthful, and masterfully multi-dimensional, RECENT UNSETTLING BUSINESS puts Netflix’s THE CHAIR to shame. This is the real deal version of that story, which makes Andrea Stolowitz both prescient and brilliant. The play is a masterclass in how to craft a gripping, action-packed story with huge stakes and unexpected reversals, and yet, not a moment of plot. Instead, her tender characters collide out of their own aching needs. Every single moment is earned. Delight in the shifts and turns, the delicate balance of shifting perspectives. Better yet, produce it!!!

One actor. One set. One story you’ll never forget… THE CROSSWORD PLAY (OR EZMERANDA’S GIFT) is a master lesson in economical storytelling. But don’t let its simplicity fool you. This elegant, smart, layered, play is as carefully constructed as the crossword puzzle it features, and as dramatic as the love story it tells. Sure to be an audience favorite - produce this play!

Though rich with everything we love about the supernatural, HEARTS OF STONE is not your usual ghost story. Yes, there’s a sense of mystery and allure that there’s more to life than just death. But Hoke’s story also gives us a rare, multi-layered window into who we are based on our relationship to mental illness - past and present. A special bonus in this play, for me, the brilliantly crafted portrait of a marriage that has some significant structural weaknesses. So much truthful humanity in this play!

JANINE: A MONOLOGUE WITH FANNY-PACK is at once adorable and heart-breaking. I have no idea how Wyndham manages to channel these young heroines with so much authenticity. But this portrait of a teen standing up to bullies shows us a true form of bravery - the courage to reveal your heart, even when it’s broken, something us adults could learn a lot from!!

PHOEBE (GOES BONKERS NEAR THE EDGE OF THE GRAND CANYON): A SUMMER VACATION MONOLOGUE is at first, exhilarating and then, at last, devastating. We feel Phoebe’s rage even as we increasingly get a clear picture of her enthusiastically intrusive, blissfully unaware parents in all their trashy glory. Personally I really appreciate Wyndham’s empathy for my own fourteen year old self who had more than my share of Mister Machintoshes.

Like much of Walker’s work, THE SISTER HOUSE finds the personal in the cultural so that any statement about who we are is intrinsically melded into the stakes of the story rather than it be a didactic message. Thus the three female characters in SISTER HOUSE illuminate how grief and loss can distort into self-harming if not allowed true expression, and how these wounds keep us from connecting with each other... until they don’t. However this play is not about that dysfunction; it's about love with laughs along the way. Oh, and… Mother-Daughter. Yes please. On stage NOW!!

THE ABUELAS is a grand story that spans generations, crosses continents and yet, its truth is in all the details that make up who we are and what we hold dear. It’s about family. And blood. And it drips with the dysfunction that colors all of our experiences when we come together with loved ones… and even more so, when we fall apart from them. And if that weren’t enough, THE ABUELAS is about an international tragedy whose legacy continues to haunt so many. Walker did more than serve this important story. She spoke its language – in tears...