Recommended by Charles Scott Jones

Really admire the complex mood, how Blevins weaves together the complementary emotions of her five endlings in this wonderful piece. Part of the terrible sadness of these pending extinctions (“walking taxidermy” as Martin the depressed Golden Frog puts it”) is that it has been brought on by us disgraceful humans and Elisabeth the Amur Leopard’s rage is understandable. I love it that Olive the Black Rhino plays sensitive hostess to the picnic. I was unexpectedly moved by Tanya the Oryx missing the herd. “All those miles felt like nothing because we moved together, all those hooves.” Astounding work!

The great gift of Jillian Blevins is that she teaches the heart and head simultaneously and surreptitiously as she entertains. Bawdy and wise, PILLORIED builds on the tension between the upbeat Doxy and downbeat Wilkin as they await their dual fates face-forward. Blevins creates a touching camaraderie between wench and knave forced to share infamy. I love Doxy’s “Still, you’ve got your health” and her “bit of wisdom,” the medieval-speak, and the singing. As merry as it is to read this short work, it would be truly delightful to behold.

With SCOTT VERSUS THE SIBERIAN DEATH WORM, Chris Soucy proves once and for all that very ancient worms (wherever they’re from) make for an exciting and scary horror creation. This short campy fun play, for me, had associations with the short fiction of Clive Barker. I love scientist Fract’s description of the worms interlocking, the slam dunk finale, and, of course, a hero inspired by the legendary Scott Sickles!

Terrific and very believable monologue - the life of Mick Jagger gives us plenty to ruminate over - especially interesting to me is the rock star's relationship with time. Time makes fools of us all, and it's done its fair share to Mick.

In KENNY’S MAN CAVE (abridged title) our psycho Ashleigh comes completely into her own as a torture queen. While playing footsie. Which is too much for Gaelen but that’s okay. The demented jokes are double-jointed - you’re laughing at yourself for reveling in Ashleigh’s gruesome lunacy. As always with Daniel’s work the stage directions and dialogue meld together seamlessly. The ending is perfect campy horror! Could there be more Ashleigh plays?

THE COMFORT ZONE by Daniel Prillaman, is so discomforting it took me months to circle back - and damn am I glad I did! The audience is set up with barkeep Nox dispensing Nietzsche-like pop wisdom to Michael, whose depression is touching and hilarious. Enter Ashleigh and Gaelen. Good Lord! Has any advice ever been so ill-timed? The real horror is what gets done to audience expectation, which makes me grateful for this insane play. Audiences will tear up their programs. So, awesome! A job well done!

To prime myself for Halloween, I’m reading what might be deemed “The Ashleigh Plays” by Daniel Prillaman. Why? - because the psycho Ashleigh is a cool horror character who manifests in different fascinating ways in 3 short horror plays — and horrible and horrifying stage women are a rarity. Read this one first as a prelude to our favorite sicko’s sick humor.

Matthew Alan's relentless, disturbing, powerful COVERED IN FLAMES is an experimental work that presents the tragedy of a nine-year-old boy setting fire to the family home in the Holloway Trailer Park, causing five family members to die. The choral voices are those of the boy, the surviving mother, neighbors, journalists, lawyers, judges, psychiatrists, even God - and the cumulative effect suggests society’s helplessness to adequately respond. I found it fascinating that the judge’s name is Caiaphas. Loved the “rapid-fire” mix of voices that weaves the elevated registers of the courtroom and the Bible with the vernacular. Fine work!

I’ve observed moose in Alaska, and Claudia Haas’s fine States Collection play MOOSE LIPS lives up to high expectations. (Moose with calves actually like to be near humans for safety because bears and humans don’t get along.) I admire the adjustable stage directions that allow for actor chemistry. The idea of an artist who paints lips is hilariously deployed in this charmer. The play gains traction in a time when the masks in public places have come down and we are now seeing more lip. Love the line “Moose lips that know danger.”

A family’s petty neediness surrounds a mother in a series of beat segments that make you feel dazed and put upon right along with her. Such an engaging piece, so much food for thought: why do they expect her to know where all their lost items are? Are they hearkening back to a womblike existence in which the mother is the world? Is that what maternal love is for some families? Mom’s flights of fancy, her DANCING WITH UNICORNS, is her glorious escape. This is a marvelously crafted short play by Marj O'Neill Butler.