Recommended by Charles Scott Jones

Poignant, bitter sweet, universal is the thought-piece PAST PERFECT. After high school change is inevitable, but friends adapt to the flow of time at different rates. We all know the Bradys of the world, have even been Brady at times. I love it when he literally gets stuck in front of where his favorite sandwich shop used to be. And that he doesn’t, though in his thirties, have a suit for special occasions. Adam Richter has a gift for exploring exciting ideas in understated yet moving ways.

The charming and quirky MOON ZOO by Elle Thoni is the perfect example of a ten-minute play that captivates with humorous surprises. I could list a dozen but don’t want to take away any of the spontaneous fun. I love the tone, which mostly rests upon the good-natured squabbling between first generation Moonies - MOONIE 1 and MOONIE 2 - as they anticipate the arrival of the first lunar bear? Or bear on the moon? Read this piece to put yourself at peace. Or someone produce this play and make the world happier.

I love creepy stage directions. In GRANDMA’S HOUSE by Cole Hunter Dzubak there’s a plethora of eerie movement, but my favorite is: “All is quiet, then GRANDMA rises from behind the couch and stares at HANSON. She leans over and smells him.” This and other compelling wordless moments in the play, coupled with complementary dialogue from the teenage versions of Hansel and Gretel, HANSON and GRETA, will have the audience’s rapt attention. Fine update on a Grimm classic and Halloween fun for all.

Delightfully surreal is INTERVIEW WITH A DINOSAUR by Dominica Plummer. What I admire most is how creatively and consistently it moves within the world of DANNY, MOMMY, POP and JOURNALIST JOE (“A large brightly colored dinosaur with a hint of a meat eater about him”). We, the readers, are the outsiders who discover this world in bits and pieces, but for the characters it's all a zany given. So much potential for crazy costuming and physical humor. I can see human and dinosaurs of all ages roaring with laughter. Outstanding fun!

Most of POSTPARTUM by Jillian Blevins is a tense, brilliantly executed two-character scene. THAT IS SO OMINOUS. Something is awfully wrong, but where is the bad coming from? Has MOTHER gone insane, from lack of sleep? Is HUSBAND jealous of baby and up to no good? Psychological threats abound. But what fuels this gorgeously-written, shocking piece is how well MOTHER and HUSBAND communicate and care for one another. By the end I’m pulling for them unlike anything I can remember. Big chills up the spine. The work of Arthur Machen comes to mind. Literary horror at its finest!

Confession: I read the BACKYARD STONEHENGE plays in reverse order and had a great time discovering the events of the plays - backwards. TJ and Kendra are the endearing, wacky couple that appear at the end of RECLAIMED, and then begin the first play, so there was for me a wonderful symmetry and I found the ending of this, the first play, really hilarious because I’d already been introduced to cranky Mrs. Ferria. Regardless TJ’s misguided attempt to make up with Kendra is fantastic! What cool heart-rendering characters! I would love to see these plays in any order!!

I love the early line: “Will you stop with the rocks?” At the outset of the deceptively complex and wonderful BACKYARD STONEHENGE, RECLAIMED seems like a conflict of tasks. Jude wants to take Mrs. Ferria to her morning doctor’s appointment and Mrs. Ferria wants to reclaim landscaping stones the neighbors took from her. But the real battle is over time - a recurring motif in the Jacquelyn Priskorn’s work. “First thing in the morning” for Mrs. Ferria is earlier than it is for TJ and Kendra, whose neolithic designs are foiled by their elderly neighbor. Fine work!

Set in Kansas, FAMILY HISTORY is a domestic murder mystery - a genre in which RFW excels. This thrilling play, ostensibly about a family’s “temper gene,” is driven by Michael and his sister Sydney, siblings who share a dark secret: the death of their father fifteen years prior to their return home. As the pressure builds their dynamic is both touching and menacing as the playwright keeps us guessing all the way to the end. I admire how Rachel weaves in nostalgia, particularly with Grandmother. And the theatrical use of offstage voices for the intense denouement. Well done.

It’s cool that Terry in IT’S ALL SO ALIEN TO ME couldn’t care less about a pending alien invasion - given the state of affairs on earth these days - and that the alien Andy is a poor motivator in getting Terry to lead the resistance movement. But then again maybe good old earth isn’t as bad as the alternative.

Freudian doughnuts and cigars! This minimalist play about two men waiting in a line wonderfully satirizes theatrical waiting, and it it does it in ten minutes - unlike Beckett’s famous play (that makes you wait for ninety minutes and then after the intermission does it to you again!). ON QUEUE has Morey Norkin’s signature humor and quirkiness that will keep you chuckling and guessing. I like MAN 2’s argument that you need two points to have a line and that because he’s the second point he can make the line go whichever way he wants. Wonderful stuff.