Recommended by Bruce Karp

Though written in 1994, Williams' play still packs a punch. Thankfully, there are now treatments for HIV/AIDS that prolong life significantly. The play also reminds us of our current pandemic and the need to be united and smart about the ways to handle the virus and mitigate its damage. The dialogue is realistic and haunting - well done, sir!

This is a sweet and funny play which supports the age-old idea that opposites attract, especially if they're lonely. The dialogue is hilarious and, as a New York native, spot on in content and dialect. At the end of the play, I hoped Ava and Thomas not only had a successful second date, but were going to be together forever.

I very much enjoyed this play and identified with the characters. The play is wonderfully witty, with just the right amount of slightly sad undertones, emphasizing some of the things we have to do when with family. It's a lovely play.

A wrong turn means "doom" for two chess aficionados who think they've entered a fancy French restaurant but experience something on a much lower scale, foodwise, and on a much larger and more comically dangerous scale, with their lives. Dark and funny.

Wow, this play really had multiple surprises and quickly changing emotions. Ms. Speckman managed, in ten minutes, to keep me guessing as to what happens next, throwing in timely social commentary, making you question the motives of both characters, and wondering in the end, which one is going to be right about the other. Well done.

In a year when voting will be, shall we say, somewhat crucial, Ms. Wagner has crafted a beautifully subversive look at trying to fit in, in new surroundings, and the inner chaos that is caused by worrying about such things, perhaps needlessly. Ms. Wagner's dialogue is smart and funny, and readers may find that they're having similar feelings about the main characters' plight. Enjoy this light look at an important subject that is nevertheless, ripe for satire.

Hard enough being in a pandemic - try speed dating on Zoom! Ms. Wagner's clever story imagines two people making a lot of excuses for why speed dating, in or out of a pandemic, might or might not work, and just when it looks as if it actually might work...well, you'll need to read the play to find out what happens. A very enjoyable (and Zoomable) play.

So, the President makes decisions while doing yoga? That is the hilarious premise of Ms. Middaugh's play, which finds him debating Treasury Secretary Mnuchin on the merits of replacing Andrew Jackson with Harriet Tubman on the twenty-dollar bill, as a black member of the White House cleaning crew tries to tidy up in the background. The dialogue is sharp and funny, and let's face it, the idea of this president doing yoga is way out there. Well done!

Anyone who has ever been bullied, and perhaps those who were the bullies, should appreciate Lawing's take on getting revenge in the age of Zoom. A very amusing short play that teenagers should read in a time where people treat others unkindly both in and out of the public square. Hope you take the time to read this play.

What a clever concept created by Williams to explore the possible benefits of grief. I enjoyed the writing and the conceit that grief can be as beautiful or as ugly as the survivors want it to be. In this case, beauty kind of wins out...an enjoyable short play worth reading.