Recommended by Steven G. Martin

This is how to have some fun with an audience prior to a show. Immersive, a bit interactive, silly (you had me at "French-accented," Benjamin Carr!), and also serious. This monologue would be so much fun for a comic actor, and would be unforgettable for audiences.

This one-act play may be the very definition of unadulterated joy.

Scott Sickles has created a world in which his four young protagonists can play without any shadows of others' expectations. And it's beautiful to watch, and it conjures a bit of nostalgia for those of us who may have wanted such a world for ourselves at age eight.

It's also quite funny, as eight-year-old logic and experience are in charge. And it's blissfully earnest, too, as these children don't need to hide anything from one another.

Pure unadulterated joy.

"Sad Lonely People" is a little dark, a little cold, and a little bitter -- like that harsh winter wind that hits you in the face after you've finished celebrating New Year's Eve, which signals the champagne dreams are over and the reality of the year has set in.

This short play is a wonderful character piece and McNeill's skill at naturalistic dialogue is terrific.

A nightmarish, horrifying 10 minutes that overlap our current reality just enough to make this play even more unsettling. Very highly recommended.

Addendum: I watched a Facebook reading of "Drain" by Rockford New Words on Jan. 22, 2021. The nightmare only became more heightened, as did the ridiculousness (God serves the President!). Political. Painful. Personal. Very highly recommended.

Good taste? Reverence? Decorum? Screw that -- Paul Donnelly goes well past the line in this tawdry, scandalous, acid-tipped comedy that'll scald an audience's eyebrows.

And, hey, if you're a fan of Albee's plays, you'll enjoy the plot doubly more than usual.

Hindsight is 20/20, and "The Remarkably Unremarkable Crucifixion of Emma Reynolds" forces an audience to wonder what had happened in the past, and why nothing was done to check it.

I was filled with dread from the first image of this monologue to its last moments, which seemingly will never end. Anger, too, as I wondered how Emma was put into the position she is in, and guilt, because I didn't do anything to help her.

Quite an elegant monologue. Speckman knows life is not a vacuum and that possibilities for even the slightest of connections are vast. And that feels comforting to me.

With "The Improv Class," Connon has written a story that theatre tells best. At first funny but chaotic and nerve-wracking, the audience becomes aware of subtle clues that open up their perspective about the story. Wonderful.

Like no other love story you'll watch on stage. Singular. Shocking. Beautiful.

An early morning pilgrimage to Taco Bell leads to a life-changing interaction. Cross shares a once-in-lifetime meeting between a young woman with several personal struggles and a being so confident and empathetic, it almost seems like a spirit. This play is also quite funny as Taco Bell, its menu, and ingredients permeate every beat.