Recommended by Robert Weibezahl

With his customary incisive eye for social commentary, Jolly upends our expectations and presents the grownup versions of some characters from a famous children’s book not as the ‘odious’ or ‘villainous’ caricatures the original narrative would suggest but as the damaged, innocent victims of malevolent abuse. ‘How long does trauma last?’ one character asks, and that question becomes the haunting underscore for this dark, thought-provoking parody.

The go-to Rom-Com trope ‘You hang up.’/’No you hang up.’ takes on a heartbreaking twist for the Age of Social Distancing in this perceptive one-minute exploration of the way we love now.

Even in the throes of satire, Rachael Carnes has a special talent for wringing every ounce of anxiety, wit, poignancy—that is to say, humanity—from her characters and their heightened situation. Brava!

With snappy dialogue, Lockhart creates a comic and poignant love letter to the early days of Hollywood as his screenwriting duo spar and banter in the writers’ room. ‘Imitation of Life,’ ‘The Thin Man,’ ‘I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang’—these and other early classics provide the tropes as they hash out what they hope will be an acceptable script. But, beyond the sardonic wit, these two have made their individual bargains with the devil of creation. And as an uneasy partnership grows into a tentative friendship, the yearning for success presents an unthinkable—and painful—choice.

A singularly quirky and clever take on the inevitable anxiety of the COVID quarantine. One of the highlights of The One-Minute Play Festival/Kitchen Theatre's night of The Coronavirus Plays Project.

Using the classic set-up of two boorish know-it-alls at a bar, Danley provides a nuanced dialogue that taps into the discontent of a particular chip-on-its-shoulder segment of society that has shaped our divisive reality. But then, unexpectedly, she turns it all on its ear as art, in the guise of a popular, unfamiliar song on the jukebox, both literally and figuratively changes the tune.

Emily Hageman has written a hilarious antidote to the COVID quarantine blues. Batman and Robin bicker and snipe as they shelter in place. The sensible Boy Wonder microwaves pizza rolls while the self-important Dark Knight tries to use Zoom to fight his worst adversary—the technologically challenged Joker. Comic book satire laced with underlying realism, Hageman uses sharp humor to explore the way we live now. Funny, funny stuff.

This timely monologue reads like a dispatch from the battlefield as a houseplant surreally observes human misbehavior in a time of panic. Dead-pan humor coupled with an ultimate expression of hope define this unique, brief encounter.

‘Old Cowboy Chuck’ deftly reminds us that issues of gender and sexuality do not necessarily fade with time, and that cruelty knows no age. Chuck’s circuitous but arresting monologue poignantly captures the rambling distraction of an elderly person, while zeroing in on the painful truths that can be hard to express.

Comedy is tragedy plus time, but the acerbic banter of the couple in ‘800 Miles’ cannot mask the pain, loss, and loneliness of empty-nesters whose marriage has long been held together by their identities as parents rather than spouses. Goldman-Sherman cuts to the bone with wit and unspoken truths, offering a glimmer of hope as the couple lights into untried territory.