Recommended by Robert Weibezahl

To quote Peter De Vries, “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be.” BEN’S KEY is a whimsical time-travel comedy wherein Ben Franklin arrives in 2020 with a little help from lightning and a kite. This quick-witted play both educate and entertains, as it cultivates one of the great imponderables: Would you really like to live in the future if you could? How about the past? Kurtz’s deft two-hander should work for young and old audiences alike.

Hilarious. Every cringe-inducing second of this audition from hell is freakin’ hilarious. No jury would convict the actor if he pulled out a gun and shot the self-important director dead on the spot, but then, of course, the desperately needy actor would never do that—it could mean he might not get the part. Busser brilliantly captures the pretensions, insecurities, and desperation of the acting profession in this pitch-perfect, counter-intuitive love letter to the theatre.

When your mother names you Holly Ivy Noel you know you’re pretty much doomed to a life of Christmas decorations and holiday tunes, but in Rose’s hilarious comedy, things have gotten waaaaay out of hand. No one blends absurdity with honest emotion and believable (if heightened) reality quite like Rose, who has an enviable talent for make the zany completely plausible. This play is perfect for a holiday program, but would sparkle at any festival of shorts, because, as Mary Noel would be the first to tell us, the spirit of Christmas should reign the whole year ‘round.

An extraordinarily prescient piece which, though written some time ago, circles our present-day reality of disease, panic, and vitriol with a menacing anxiety. Arlo and Zoe—Alpha and Omega—embody aspects of so much about the ways people approach terrifying truths: denial, blame, hatred, fear and, strangely, hope. This haunting play could not be more timely.

An utterly charming play that perfectly captures the tentative frisson of teenage infatuation. Sure to trigger fond, if slightly squirmy, memories in any former high school theatre nerd or, really, in anyone who remembers being in the awkward throes of young love.

This full-of-surpises postprandial kitchen encounter between a prickly, dying woman and her son’s optimistic fiancée is driven by an unvarnished life philosophy: though we might not want to admit it, we often need to tell lies to those we love (and sometimes even ourselves) to maintain the delicate balance of life. Funny, sad, angry, hopeful—Miller packs so much into this sharp and engrossing short play.

This gentle and emotionally honest play reminds us that the bonds that might seem to skip a generation can be bolstered by love, communication … and tomato soup. A lovely cross-generational work that lingers in one’s mind long after its final moments.

All’s fair in love, war, and ... perceptions of the weather. Williams’s quirky one-minute play will speak to anyone, no matter which side of the argument they’re on. As a native New Yorker transplanted to California, who now considers 50 degrees to be unacceptably frigid, I completely copped to Ben’s point of view. All but the most provincial audiences will nod in recognition as they laugh out loud.

Arianna Rose’s intriguing one-act raises the emotional ante as it deeply contemplates the weighty realities of death, grief, resentment, forgiveness, letting go, and moving on—played out here in very unexpected and creative ways. A touching dreamscape filled with love and hope.

Karp starts with a brilliant setup for a comic play, then subverts our expectations with a wicked portrait of family dysfunction wherein every character is an accomplice, knowingly playing his or her role in the game. The laughs derive from the gentle absurdity, the tears from the real pain beneath this family’s silliness.