Recommended by Kenneth Jones

  • halfs

    by Dominic Finocchiaro

    In the first scene of “halfs,” a rudderless musician in recovery asks a barkeep, “What's the saddest thing you’ve seen in this place?” It's a query that's useful in so many ways in this tender, aching new play about a grieving, stuck addict who reunites with his much younger half brother. It’s an odd-couple drama with humor about coming of age, inherited illness and reaching to make art out of sadness. And it’s about the choice between light and dark. And how we can't always control the choices.

    In the first scene of “halfs,” a rudderless musician in recovery asks a barkeep, “What's the saddest thing you’ve seen in this place?” It's a query that's useful in so many ways in this tender, aching new play about a grieving, stuck addict who reunites with his much younger half brother. It’s an odd-couple drama with humor about coming of age, inherited illness and reaching to make art out of sadness. And it’s about the choice between light and dark. And how we can't always control the choices.

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    AHOY HOY is an unexpected comic romp that has the tang of the best of Christopher Durang, with big dollops of "The Tracey Ulmann Show," "SNL" and "Oh, Mary." (While fiercely being its own thing.) It flirts with big ideas about male ego, ambition, narcissism and the mutability of legacy. Plus, it's bonkers funny. Music gives it helium but I won't spoil that twist. I caught it in a fizzy reading directed by Celine Rosenthal at Florida Rep's 2026 PlayLab. Can't wait to see it everywhere one day.

    AHOY HOY is an unexpected comic romp that has the tang of the best of Christopher Durang, with big dollops of "The Tracey Ulmann Show," "SNL" and "Oh, Mary." (While fiercely being its own thing.) It flirts with big ideas about male ego, ambition, narcissism and the mutability of legacy. Plus, it's bonkers funny. Music gives it helium but I won't spoil that twist. I caught it in a fizzy reading directed by Celine Rosenthal at Florida Rep's 2026 PlayLab. Can't wait to see it everywhere one day.

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    I saw reading of THE LAST GREAT ESCAPE ARTIST at Florida Rep's 2026 PlayLab and was grateful to be in the company two quirky intergenerational characters. Flecked with humor, this is a surprising magic trick of a play: one set and two people (a senior and a young adult) connecting over a shared feeling of isolation, estrangement, confinement — and the urge to escape. I expect it to have a wide life.

    I saw reading of THE LAST GREAT ESCAPE ARTIST at Florida Rep's 2026 PlayLab and was grateful to be in the company two quirky intergenerational characters. Flecked with humor, this is a surprising magic trick of a play: one set and two people (a senior and a young adult) connecting over a shared feeling of isolation, estrangement, confinement — and the urge to escape. I expect it to have a wide life.

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    This represents Audrey Cefaly at her most audacious and expressionistic: The story of two sisters tethered by blood and fondness and creativity, but torn apart by mental illness, substance abuse, time and mortality. A wildly theatrical cry of the heart that is an experimental director’s dream. A play about chaos and connection, wellness, woe and the wide-eyed wonder of being a sibling.

    This represents Audrey Cefaly at her most audacious and expressionistic: The story of two sisters tethered by blood and fondness and creativity, but torn apart by mental illness, substance abuse, time and mortality. A wildly theatrical cry of the heart that is an experimental director’s dream. A play about chaos and connection, wellness, woe and the wide-eyed wonder of being a sibling.

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    I had the pleasure of seeing a staged reading of this charmer of a play, the imagined origin story of Virginia Woolf's upper middle class housewife Mrs. Dalloway. It's a frisky, funny, touching script about the joy of youth that takes you right back to being 17 and feeling all the feels of past grief, present passion and future possibilities. The Cotswolds positively bloomed in Lindsay's telling. A long life in professional theaters (and hundreds of college theaters) seems to be assured.

    I had the pleasure of seeing a staged reading of this charmer of a play, the imagined origin story of Virginia Woolf's upper middle class housewife Mrs. Dalloway. It's a frisky, funny, touching script about the joy of youth that takes you right back to being 17 and feeling all the feels of past grief, present passion and future possibilities. The Cotswolds positively bloomed in Lindsay's telling. A long life in professional theaters (and hundreds of college theaters) seems to be assured.

  • Kenneth Jones: 1999 by Stacey Isom Campbell
    “

    "1999" is ripped from recent headlines as it toggles between the year 1999, when film students Emma and Teresa are just starting out, and 2019, when Teresa is no longer in the picture and Emma is a successful film producer. Oscar winner Emma profited off a “me too” sexual assault that destroyed Teresa. A powerful portrait of sisterhood thwarted in an industry where men still seem to get “final cut.” Fluid, filmic and bursting with potential. A great play for three women.

    "1999" is ripped from recent headlines as it toggles between the year 1999, when film students Emma and Teresa are just starting out, and 2019, when Teresa is no longer in the picture and Emma is a successful film producer. Oscar winner Emma profited off a “me too” sexual assault that destroyed Teresa. A powerful portrait of sisterhood thwarted in an industry where men still seem to get “final cut.” Fluid, filmic and bursting with potential. A great play for three women.

    ”
  • Kenneth Jones: Swiped (full-length) by Samara Siskind
    “

    SWIPED begins with a scene of multiple tensions: a young Black man, Jeremiah, chats up a young woman, Sarah, in the food court of a mall. As the playwright deftly juggles ideas of perceptions and prejudices, there are also hints of attraction, desire, humor and threat. It turns out he’s a loss prevention security officer and, earlier, he witnessed her swiping merchandise at a store. A surprising, tender relationship forms, prompting Sarah to face past trauma. Smart, charming, hopeful.

    SWIPED begins with a scene of multiple tensions: a young Black man, Jeremiah, chats up a young woman, Sarah, in the food court of a mall. As the playwright deftly juggles ideas of perceptions and prejudices, there are also hints of attraction, desire, humor and threat. It turns out he’s a loss prevention security officer and, earlier, he witnessed her swiping merchandise at a store. A surprising, tender relationship forms, prompting Sarah to face past trauma. Smart, charming, hopeful.

    ”
  • Kenneth Jones: Dunk City by Stephen Brown
    “

    Hands down, the funniest American comedy I’ve seen in a long time. At Florida Rep’s PlayLab (and with a dynamite cast), it was at turns broad, dirty, charming, silly but shot-through with tender characters and a great big heart. The Staten Island-set play keeps you guessing about the root of the main character’s condition (could the overpowering Italian-American mama be the cause?), but surprises await. For a play about coming of age and becoming a man, it’s a pulsing valentine to innocence. Stephen Brown is the love child of John Patrick Shanley and Albert Innaurato.

    Hands down, the funniest American comedy I’ve seen in a long time. At Florida Rep’s PlayLab (and with a dynamite cast), it was at turns broad, dirty, charming, silly but shot-through with tender characters and a great big heart. The Staten Island-set play keeps you guessing about the root of the main character’s condition (could the overpowering Italian-American mama be the cause?), but surprises await. For a play about coming of age and becoming a man, it’s a pulsing valentine to innocence. Stephen Brown is the love child of John Patrick Shanley and Albert Innaurato.

    ”
  • Kenneth Jones: how it feels to fall from the sky by Dominic Finocchiaro
    “

    I fell in love with each utterly distinct character in this funny-sad-aching new play about five strangers who witness a tragedy, prompting them to seek fellowship and solace. They find personal growth, empathy and connection — things that sometimes seem unachievable in modern urban life (it’s set in NYC, natch). The inciting event in the characters’ lives is very specific, but it will bring to mind national tragedies we’ve all endured and will remind you there’s a neighbor next door ready to connect. A humor-laced drama that shimmers with intelligence and surprise.

    I fell in love with each utterly distinct character in this funny-sad-aching new play about five strangers who witness a tragedy, prompting them to seek fellowship and solace. They find personal growth, empathy and connection — things that sometimes seem unachievable in modern urban life (it’s set in NYC, natch). The inciting event in the characters’ lives is very specific, but it will bring to mind national tragedies we’ve all endured and will remind you there’s a neighbor next door ready to connect. A humor-laced drama that shimmers with intelligence and surprise.

    ”
  • Kenneth Jones: ROOM 1214 by Michelle Kholos Brooks
    “

    A necessary, haunting, human piece of political theater that names names, connects powerful historical dots, lays out brutal facts, and invites us to continue the fight against the national catastrophe that is our access to assault weapons. Inspired by the story and work of a Holocaust history teacher whose Parkland, FL, high school was attacked, the play is a conjuring, a cry of the heart, a criticism, and call for us to repair the world — and never forget.

    A necessary, haunting, human piece of political theater that names names, connects powerful historical dots, lays out brutal facts, and invites us to continue the fight against the national catastrophe that is our access to assault weapons. Inspired by the story and work of a Holocaust history teacher whose Parkland, FL, high school was attacked, the play is a conjuring, a cry of the heart, a criticism, and call for us to repair the world — and never forget.

    ”