Recommended by Steven G. Martin

"Begging the Question" is the kind of one-minute play I love -- it challenges an audience's assumptions and expectations, and it will bring a smile to their face. Tautly written, every syllable is essential to this back-and-forth bantering comedy.

Greg Vovos is a humane writer. Even his short plays, which sometimes have fun trimmings of absurd humor, always have genuine emotional understanding at their core.

"House Manager," for all its charm and humor -- and there is plenty of both -- is about assuaging fear and grief. It's easy to produce, there's good give-and-take with the dialogue, and it's pro-imagination and pro-theatre.

Laura Pittenger's short play dramatizes Grace's first steps not to be completely free from grief, but to continue her life with the understanding that grief will be a part of it. This is a quiet drama, but the stakes are very high.

With "Misfit, America," Diaz-Marcano crafts a story that only theatre can tell. One plot, several stories; of the quest for identity and belonging, of revenge and redemption, of greed and selflessness, of standing your ground and looking to the future. This is epic, this is intimate, and this is a script that will challenge and reward everyone involved, including an audience.

Love and acceptance from those we love and accept, including God and our parents. What else is there? For Mona, it's everything. Audiences will root for these characters to listen to and understand one another in this subtle, emotional drama.

In this short one-act play, Danley dramatizes idyllic scenes of childhood friendship and uses narration by an adult to reflect on their impact. While young audiences will enjoy and relate to so much in Mary and Leo's connections, "The Camera, the Gerbil, and the Big, Wide World" will also resonate with older audiences who may understand how important the right person at the right time can affect our lives.

Zaffarano takes the protagonists of "Sweet Revenge" from bad to worse to ridiculous levels of conflict in this brisk farce. And there are so many sources of humor: relationship comedy, physical comedy, workplace comedy, dark comedy, even comedy with visual elements. Actors and audiences will enjoy every minute of this teetering-on-disaster-no-longer-teetering-it's-actually-happened play.

Another winning short comedy from Elizabeth Isela Szekeresh. College freshman Victoria is preparing herself for Christmas with her family, but the Google slides haven't come. Again, it's not going to end well. And now I'm ready for another installment of Victoria's adventures!

This and Szekeresh's "Down and Brown Thanksgiving" would make for a terrific comic double-bill. Fun dialogue; strong, differentiated characters; easy to produce; and something to (satirically?) say. Produce these plays.

Elizabeth Isela Szekeresh shows audiences the very comic calm before the storm. We can only imagine the aftermath, it becomes that much richer.

Victoria, a college freshman, is preparing herself to lay down some knowledge on her family. And, oh, there aren't enough flash cards in the world: everything wrong with their self-identification; their non-vegan, non-organic Thanksgiving meal options; their votes in the federal election. It isn't going to go well.

This and "Down and Brown Christmas" would make a wonderful pairing. Produce them.

"Talking Points" has a terrific premise and has warm humor. Family coming together to emotionally support family. Hayet has written a winning Thanksgiving comedy.