Recommended by Dave Osmundsen

The characters in this touching and quietly moving play have certainly been through the ringer! They endure (or have endured) divorce, sexual assault, unrequited love, trauma from witnessing a school shooting, and death. But because this is a Scott Sickles play, they display great humor and humanity throughout. Trauma, and how it manifests in our lives, is a central theme here. It impacts the art we create, the art we consume, and the people we love. This play is a fascinating exploration of that idea, while being a compelling love story.

A deceptively gentle satire about racial politics in a majority-white private school setting that becomes sharper and messier as it continues. Malakhow displays an uncanny ability to remain compassionate and critical of his characters. You're almost guaranteed to disagree with them at some points, and agree with them at others. He also takes "polite" microaggressions and places them under an interrogative magnifying glass--the moments of microaggression really hit hard. He's also not afraid to complicate his characters, which makes them ultra compelling to watch.

With the acerbic wit of Stephen Adly Guigis and the soaring poeticism of August Wilson, MORENO tackles a deep and complex question: Is there a right time to take a stand?

Each of the four characters in Wilkins' play are well-drawn and complex, and playwright masterfully reveals new layers and depth to them with each passing scene. The subject matter is expressed in a thought-provoking and passionate manner that never feels didactic--this is a play whose heart beats fervently and passionately, and whose mind is sharp and nimble.

I look forward to seeing this play onstage soon!

A gorgeously written, boundlessly compassionate, and honest take about how two people who don't share the same neurology strive to connect and understand each other. Cathro's dialogue is filled with poetic, but never heavy-handed imagery, and his characters here are specific and sympathetic. Also mad props to Cathro for writing an autistic character that doesn't fall on stereotypes. This is a man who, like his girlfriend, wants and craves human connection and intimacy. A masterful short work!

A sweeping love story and a frightening futuristic vision, Sickles skillfully illustrates a tender love story between two men against the broader backdrop of rapid climate change. Sickles doesn't settle for mere melodrama here--his characters are flesh-and-blood humans who are doing their best within an extraordinary situation. The mundanity with which these characters interact is almost revolutionary. Sickles doesn't make it a point of being "chilling" or "disturbing" in the character's interactions, but rather lets this everyday mundanity be a natural part of the play. Boldly ambitious and passionate, "Pangea" explores how humans find happiness in terrifying circumstances.

An authentic, sharp, and devastating exploration of the intersections of friendship and sexuality. Carr has created an ensemble of specific, clearly defined characters who have palpable wants and needs beyond the shelter they all hang out in. Carr also displays a sharp, unerring ear for the way that teenagers speak. A perfect play for college-aged performers.

Libby asks some pretty major questions with this piece: What impact do our decisions make on our life and happiness? What consequences can choices have, even when they are out of our control? And what compromises are we willing to make for the people we live? In this intimate yet epic play, Libby poses these questions with hyper-articulate dialogue and super-engaging characters whose journey I took great pleasure in tracking. Expertly written and crafted, I cannot wait to see/hear this play one day.

I listened to a Zoom reading of this play. This is an incredibly delicate, deceptively simple piece that took me back to the beginning months of the pandemic, when quarantine threw off our perception of time (which St. James captures beautifully). The use of increasingly loud sirens was especially haunting and effective, reminding the audience of how on fire the world was (literally and figuratively) while we were stuck inside. Also, points to St. James for normalizing non-monogamy in relationships, and for not making a slip-up a massive plot point that calls a relationship into question.

A big, bold, hilarious, messy (in the best way possible), panoramic epic about a disparate group of animals and humans dealing with a rapidly changing world. Corwin's gift for clever, witty comedy and razor-sharp satire is on full display here--but it masks a deeper, much darker undercurrent. The ending is truly one of the most horrifying conclusions I've ever read. This is that rare play that ACTUALLY makes you laugh one minute, then terrifies you the next. If you care about the environment (or, you know, humanity) on ANY level, PLEASE read this play!

Who called whom first? Where did they die? What happened at this meeting? Speculation abounds in this witty and touching dark comedy. Laugh-out-loud dialogue is well-matched with the deeper themes that DeVita and Lyons are exploring here, such as love, grief, and legacy. The piece also explores how rumors and contradictions of a person's life become a part of their legacy until they take on a mythic proportion, becoming Hollywood lore in the process.