Recommended by Dave Osmundsen

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    A potent portrayal of Autistic grief, "a witness" gradually reveals itself as a story of five funny, vulnerable, and lost people navigating loss and estrangement. Jordan Bird doesn't allow us a tidy resolution--she allows us to sit with the emotional carnage these people have created. Maybe they'll forgive each other, maybe they won't. But forgiveness isn't the point: It's seeing each other, understanding each other, despite our messed-up actions.

    A potent portrayal of Autistic grief, "a witness" gradually reveals itself as a story of five funny, vulnerable, and lost people navigating loss and estrangement. Jordan Bird doesn't allow us a tidy resolution--she allows us to sit with the emotional carnage these people have created. Maybe they'll forgive each other, maybe they won't. But forgiveness isn't the point: It's seeing each other, understanding each other, despite our messed-up actions.

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    Erin is a Millennial Hedda Gabler. One day, she decides to become a darker and more sadistic person, claiming power in a society that denies her autonomy. How this impacts her caring and supportive friends is both horrifying and hysterical to watch (a box of "some old shit" comes into play). Prillaman's dialogue reads almost like a Yorgos Lanthimos film--precise, polite, yet with a Swiss army knife hidden in plain sight. This play will leave audiences beguiled and provoked. Brilliant work!

    Erin is a Millennial Hedda Gabler. One day, she decides to become a darker and more sadistic person, claiming power in a society that denies her autonomy. How this impacts her caring and supportive friends is both horrifying and hysterical to watch (a box of "some old shit" comes into play). Prillaman's dialogue reads almost like a Yorgos Lanthimos film--precise, polite, yet with a Swiss army knife hidden in plain sight. This play will leave audiences beguiled and provoked. Brilliant work!

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    A hysterical and deeply layered family drama, Marcus Scott's "Tumbleweed" is also incredibly empathetic, smart, and compelling. Beyond the family dynamics, this play explores the place of Black men and women in society, particularly how they are judged through a white lens. Scott also creates a stunning character in Rebecca, a white woman who struggles to be the most affirming mother for her mixed-race daughters. The ending is brilliant and chilling. Fantastic work!

    A hysterical and deeply layered family drama, Marcus Scott's "Tumbleweed" is also incredibly empathetic, smart, and compelling. Beyond the family dynamics, this play explores the place of Black men and women in society, particularly how they are judged through a white lens. Scott also creates a stunning character in Rebecca, a white woman who struggles to be the most affirming mother for her mixed-race daughters. The ending is brilliant and chilling. Fantastic work!

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    What begins as a standoff between an inflexible teacher and a helicopter parent becomes a complex and poignant portrait of internalized ableism, generational neurodiversity, and an education system that increasingly devalues its teachers. Burdick’s writing becomes increasingly layered as the play goes on, anchored by a fascinating and complicated protagonist. This play left me both intellectually stimulated and emotionally moved.

    What begins as a standoff between an inflexible teacher and a helicopter parent becomes a complex and poignant portrait of internalized ableism, generational neurodiversity, and an education system that increasingly devalues its teachers. Burdick’s writing becomes increasingly layered as the play goes on, anchored by a fascinating and complicated protagonist. This play left me both intellectually stimulated and emotionally moved.

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    A must-read play for our times, "The Meeting" depicts a group of artists holding a forbidden gathering to figure out their place in a world where art is banned. What follows is a meditation on the use of art-societal, practical, emotional-and the human impulse to create. Despite the tense atmosphere, but I felt a strong sense of safety and kinship among these characters. A plea to artists to never stop creating, "The Meeting" is funny, moving, and everything theatre can and should be.

    A must-read play for our times, "The Meeting" depicts a group of artists holding a forbidden gathering to figure out their place in a world where art is banned. What follows is a meditation on the use of art-societal, practical, emotional-and the human impulse to create. Despite the tense atmosphere, but I felt a strong sense of safety and kinship among these characters. A plea to artists to never stop creating, "The Meeting" is funny, moving, and everything theatre can and should be.

  • Dave Osmundsen: You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! by Keiko Green
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    A play that begins in intimacy that gradually expands beyond the stage, beyond the audience, and beyond the planet we’re reading (or seeing) this play on. Keiko Green manages to strike an impossibly sharp and self-aware comic tone early in the play, then breaks your heart over and over again throughout. What buoys the near-farcical dramaturgy is the empathy the characters command—these are messy humans in a messy world. Just like the rest of us. Wonderful work!

    A play that begins in intimacy that gradually expands beyond the stage, beyond the audience, and beyond the planet we’re reading (or seeing) this play on. Keiko Green manages to strike an impossibly sharp and self-aware comic tone early in the play, then breaks your heart over and over again throughout. What buoys the near-farcical dramaturgy is the empathy the characters command—these are messy humans in a messy world. Just like the rest of us. Wonderful work!

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  • Dave Osmundsen: This is The Subtext; a memoir play about a podcast, a playwright, and belonging by Brian James Polak
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    For playwrights, this is perhaps about as niche as a play could get. However, much like "A Chorus Line," its specificity lends itself to a universal story of desperately wanting to be seen by an industry that doesn't care about individual artists. Perhaps the sharpest critique of the contemporary theatre scene I've read, this play is also funny, tender, and reassuring, helped by Brian James Polak's unflinching honesty and self-awareness. Every playwright should read it.

    For playwrights, this is perhaps about as niche as a play could get. However, much like "A Chorus Line," its specificity lends itself to a universal story of desperately wanting to be seen by an industry that doesn't care about individual artists. Perhaps the sharpest critique of the contemporary theatre scene I've read, this play is also funny, tender, and reassuring, helped by Brian James Polak's unflinching honesty and self-awareness. Every playwright should read it.

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  • Dave Osmundsen: On Love & Robots by Kyle Smith
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    Christopher Durang meets “The Terminator” in Kyle Smith’s hilarious dark comedy. The play centers a queer couple who are planning their lives together when a family visit turns suddenly deadly. Robots are involved. The dramatic absurdity increases and increases until the play suddenly becomes dangerous, resulting in a harrowing and horrifying final five minutes. I found myself alternatively laughing and gasping, especially when a certain aspic gets taken out of the oven. Terrific play!

    Christopher Durang meets “The Terminator” in Kyle Smith’s hilarious dark comedy. The play centers a queer couple who are planning their lives together when a family visit turns suddenly deadly. Robots are involved. The dramatic absurdity increases and increases until the play suddenly becomes dangerous, resulting in a harrowing and horrifying final five minutes. I found myself alternatively laughing and gasping, especially when a certain aspic gets taken out of the oven. Terrific play!

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  • Dave Osmundsen: THAT TIME TERRI AND LILY TOOK A ROAD TRIP TO SEE THE LAURA INGALLS WILDER HOUSE by Gina Femia
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    Gina Femia’s razor-sharp dialogue, unapologetic queerness, and messily true characterizations are on full display here. Femia’s play takes the tropes of the “coming out play” and complicates it, portraying two protagonists who aren’t able to be completely honest with one another. So much is left unspoken, which makes the play brim with subtext. Highly recommended!

    Gina Femia’s razor-sharp dialogue, unapologetic queerness, and messily true characterizations are on full display here. Femia’s play takes the tropes of the “coming out play” and complicates it, portraying two protagonists who aren’t able to be completely honest with one another. So much is left unspoken, which makes the play brim with subtext. Highly recommended!

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  • Dave Osmundsen: The Autistic Wonder by Kyle Smith
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    Autism may be someone’s superpower. But even Superman had enemies. Smith’s ten-minute satire smartly subverts and skewers this trope, questioning if a capitalist society is truly capable of seeing Autistic folks beyond their behaviors and diagnosis.

    Autism may be someone’s superpower. But even Superman had enemies. Smith’s ten-minute satire smartly subverts and skewers this trope, questioning if a capitalist society is truly capable of seeing Autistic folks beyond their behaviors and diagnosis.

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