Recommended by Steven G. Martin

Among the strengths of Donnelly's sort play "Go Knights!" is the honest characterization of a person who doesn't respond well to disappointment, who lashes out at loved ones, who suggests unforgivable things, and whose go-to setting in an emotional crisis is selfishness. They can't all be heroes, and Julie Van Beek's responses are human.

Credit, too, to Donnelly for using action -- selecting music & dancing to it, specifically -- to further define character and bring the crisis to a (momentary?) resolution.

Among other strengths, Sickles' short play "Outpost" is terrific at telling a story through scope. The story begins at the deepest and widest of perspectives -- on the fringes of the Milky Way galaxy -- and then re-focuses to tell a very intimate story.

This one-act is both funny and sweetly romantic. Credit Moran for grounding the action, characters, and dialogue in a basic truth: We don't often get the truth when relationships fail, even if we really want to know why.

A ghost story. A story of searching and longing. A bittersweet story. Is there anything more lost than a ghost searching for identity and family? This site-specific play will impact its audience thanks to Graff's skill at crafting characters in need.

A fever dream of a comedy that'll leave audiences wondering if they've really seen what just happened on stage. This short play is more than just its scenario, though, as Stubbles creates well-drawn characters at odds with one another, deft dialogue, and comic action.

Masterful. Szymkowicz has crafted beautiful vignettes about love, longing, loss, and the inability to communicate these emotions. The dialogue and characters are everyday, but our guide -- the Photographer -- pulls them into sharper, detailed focus so the audience understands them better. This play is heartfelt and humane.

This play offers life and death struggles of the funniest kind as a suicidal chocolate bar tries to end it all. If only all characters were as self-aware as Stubbles' Choco and Ice -- they literally know what they're made of, and what they want, in this short comic (and oddly romantic) play.

Wilcox's solo piece offers several perspectives about the myth of Persephone traveling to the Underworld -- daughter's, mother's, lover's, and subjects'. As the performer transforms into the characters, Wilcox provides them tools -- properties that take on different meanings and movement. I really enjoyed the storytelling.

Science is so boring ... until it causes the destruction of the world in only a few moments. All of existence, including Mack trucks, is sucked into a black hole. Thanks, Switzerland. This one-minute play would be wonderfully chaotic and energetic on stage with so many opportunities for actors to shine physically and vocally.

A satirical snapshot of insular, blinkered individuals who would dismiss any genuine environment or experience with a sneer and snide comment. Hovanesian's one-minute comedy will make audiences shake their collective heads in disbelief.