Recommended by Charles Scott Jones

Awesome that Evan Baughfman adds a meerkat to the scorpion and frog fable! (It would be even if I didn't have a meerkat coffee cup.) And really clever that this becomes the story of a predator meets predator meets pretender. THE SCORPION AND THE FROG had me guessing until the final line. And yes this would be so cool to see actors portraying these creatures on stage.

What's going on in Aiden's head? In DRAWING FOR DAD, Evan Baughfman concocts a minimalist Oedipal horror drama that leaves us in chilling contemplation of what we will never know but will imagine in our nightmares.

Awkward as hell and hilarious - my second venture into Prillaman’s HOW TO TALK TO YOUR CHILD series. Part of the fun is having no idea how anybody could pull off this kind of play and yet the playwright does it with seeming ease. I mean who else can have a character deliver a gag while gagged? This would be all the more squirmy great to see on stage. Favorite line is when MOM says, “Okay, we don’t need to get into the mechanics of it.”

The overarching joke of Marina, a hospice worker, having an argumentative relationship with a very cheerful vision of Jesus tickles your funny bone until it deepens into something more. I love His rationale for why He won’t COME AGAIN, the one-liners, the sense of urgency for our impending environmental doom, the scene in the back of the police car, and how the play builds momentum until its perfect conclusion. The parable of the two cooks and the banana bread recipe is genius. Don’t be afraid. Read Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend’s fine play before it's too late for us!

The home truth of A SEUSSIFIED GRINDR DATE is that we hang on to our childhood obsessions until they show up when we least need it. Like Seussian rhymes while on an app hookup. I like that Sam seeming gay for liking Dr. Seuss too much while in second grade interfaces with being gay as an adult - how seeming / being collide in Ian Donley's very funny play.

Lawing gives an insightful look and appeal to the heavens from "The Little Boy," a monologue that so elegantly and cogently explores what so many of us have probably felt at some point - yet from this unique divine perspective.

One of the best titles I've seen on NPX, THE WRINKLE RANCH lives up to its titular promise. The good old cowgirls at the Rancho Felicidad Assisted Living Facility come off the page so realistically raunchy and raucous - the dialogue between Colleen, Barb, and Edith had me chuckling the whole way. A favorite line involves Stan reaching for air and Colleen "two-steppin' with the oxygen tank." The Urban Dictionary elder-sex words are a hoot!

Wow, what a feat to pull off this cold-feet wedding-day moment! With such stunning immediacy and intimacy Bonnie and Savannah demo how talking things through really does matter. I love how Scott handles the longer speeches by wild child Savannah - her rendering of her own idea of virginity makes this piece soar. The sisters' conversation is so powerfully written that I can follow through with the wedding in my imagination.

Wonderful suspense! - to be led on this trail of three letters. And how much we can infer from the letters about the marriage of Mary and Charles. My take is that they are kindred spirits who play practical jokes upon one another to keep their marriage alive (and that we the reader arrive late to their party). I like the detail that Mary once rescues Charles from bullies by pulling the fire alarm. Three cheers!

A grain of sand worked over by nature becomes a pearl - a grain of truth worked over by John Busser becomes an excellent play, A CONVERSATION ABOUT MOM. You may see yourself as the father, son, even the mother by the time it’s over, as Busser builds anguish in myriad forms we all know.