Recommended by Kenneth Jones

Enid Graham’s absorbing ensemble play about an extended family haunted by the years-ago death of a brilliant daughter — and the influential published book she left behind — is a thick, rich, satisfying exploration of how stuck we can get individual personalities, and how stuck we can get in life. The play is a fascinating onion in which layers of family history get peeled away. I loved following the trails of dysfunction and mystery in this broken brood. The play remind us that with family, there are no easy answers.

Matt Bennett creates a wholly American portrait is his fact-inspired tale of an immigrant art teacher in Utah who becomes a target of conservative parents and administrators: Themes of censorship, freedom of thought and freedom of expression collide with current crises of school bullying, addiction and the American suicide epidemic in the U.S. in a complicated rural landscape of children at risk, substance abuse, religious intolerance and marital uncertainty. Unforgettable characters in a world that was fresh to my eyes, ears and imagination.

Matt Bennett’s deliciously fractured fairy tale LET DOWN YOUR HAIR is a ferociously absurd political comedy that reimagines Rapunzel’s mother as running for president while micromanaging her daughter’s sex education. The play has the fury and humor of Christopher Durang’s best plays, and manages to be specific about a political moment and universal about the difficult twists and turns of parenting and being parented.

I was pulled into this economically written, poetry-kissed story of a retired law enforcement officer with a past who now faces a choice that connects to her personal present and her professional history. I love how THE WAY NORTH advocates for humanity and nuance when it comes to law enforcement, something that seems achingly relevant. The four-actor Minnesota-set play very early on subverts expectations, both in form and content, creating a wintry world that feels deeply theatrical and yet specific. It bursts with ideas of freedom, refuge, strangers in a strange land, migration, doing the right thing, tolerance and love.

COLD SPRING is an arresting, intimate four-actor drama that focuses on the damage that sexual abuse does to the wider community — family, friends, marriages — not just to the immediate victim. The haunted blue collar father character has fresh shades that I haven’t seen — levels of apparent shame, desire, pain and unique conflicts with his wife. It’s a fascinating snapshot of a marriage, not a mere crime procedural. The leaps in time kept me on the edge of my seat.

This large-cast ensemble play set in two different periods (1976 and 2016) charts the messy business of college students trying to form politically-minded student organizations in times of social turbulence. How the stories are linked is beautifully teased out in the course of the highly theatrical intermissionless play, which is laced with humor, heartache, hurt and passion. The American Experiment is in potent capsule form here, and its effect is powerful. Brimming with intelligence and youthful energy (hormones! anxiety! anger!), it's a perfect play for colleges but deserves a canvas at a major regional theater.