Recommended by Emily Hageman

Hilarious and incredibly clever, the premise is so original and fun and the execution is so brilliant and phenomenally written. Every actor in this piece gets a chance to be wildly funny. I promise, this play is just as funny as its title. Higbee's writing in this play is pure delight, and I can't wait to read more of his work.

This monologue struck me from the very first line. Partain writes on such an incredibly human level, and her plays ache with her fearless honesty. This play hurts because I have lived it, as has almost every woman I can only imagine. Partain puts the most beautiful language to it, and somehow, though the pain is there, the beauty of her words makes it hurt less. It makes me feel like I have someone out there who understands what it's like to be a woman, and to be alive when the world wishes you weren't. Wonderful, just wonderful.

This is a play that lives with you for a long time. It's brutal and dark and ugly, but it's so fascinating you can't help but lean in. This play may hold the distinction as one of the most darkly funny plays I've ever seen--with one of the most disturbing moments I've ever seen in a play mixed with some of the funniest lines I've ever read. I saw this read at the Midwest Dramatists Convention and the reaction from the audience was unlike anything I've ever seen. Triplett is one to watch.

One of the most beautiful plays I've ever read in my life. Just reading it gave me goosebumps and tears in my eyes. So gorgeously felt and sincere with a kind of humanity and poetry that flows off of the page. This is a play that has so clearly emerged from Partain's heart, and it has made me feel so much--wonderful and hope and poignancy and sadness and the truth that there is so much good to be had, so much good, even in the truest moments of pain. Beautiful, just beautiful.

A brilliant and hilarious play. I saw a reading of this at the Midwest Dramatists Convention and the audience was dying of laughter. The voices are so natural and so believable, it's gently teases toxic masculinity, and it's actually a really, really sweet piece about a friendship between two men. Just wonderful and so lively and so incredibly funny. Plummer is absolutely one to watch.

Harrowing and brilliant, Salsbury quickly and deftly paints for us a futuristic landscape in just a few pages. There are so many questions here--and the dialogue that comes from this play is powerful. It's incredibly and powerfully written and phenomenally polarizing. I saw this read at the Midwest Dramatists Convention and I believe we could have discussed it for a full two hours, if not more. Phenomenal work from a phenomenal playwright.

I'm really not even sure how to describe this play. I saw a reading of it at the Midwest Dramatist's Convention and I was utterly struck. This is a magnificent piece of theatre, and the emotional impact that it had on me is bigger than I can describe with words. There is a moment in this play that will live with me forever--and I didn't even see it on stage. Whoever produces this play would be wise to put it at the end of the evening, because nothing will be seen after it. Marvelous, incredible work.

Absolutely hilarious. I just saw a reading of this and the audience was roaring. It gets wilder with every passing minute, high energy, laughs every few lines. Middleton Williams has such a brilliantly funny voice. One of the best ten minute plays I’ve ever seen. Well, well done!

Just as wickedly funny and sharp-tongued as she is, "Last Dance with MJ" comes out with vibrancy and life and, as is always true with Partain, these characters fling themselves wildly off of the page and demand that you listen to the things they have to say about men in society, the power given to each gender, and how women will do whatever it takes to end up on top. These are the female characters we need to see, written by a female voice we need to hear.

A truly marvelous ten minute play. Thoughtful, tense, surprisingly funny in moments, Andrei has crafted two characters in this situation that we not only come to care about, but that we understand on a human level. There is such a savage beauty to the end--such a moment of hope painted in such brutal colors. Poetic, but guttingly real, this is a great play that I believe will have a long production history--and has motivated me to look at more of Andrei's work.