Recommended by Steven G. Martin

How do you tear at an audience's heartstrings?

If you're Ian August, you confine Paul -- the protagonist of your one-man, one-act "Brisé" -- to a single action in a single setting, not only suggesting that the options for his life are becoming limited due to dementia, but also to return to the highly detailed central motifs of Paul's love of music and dance, and his relationships to his lover and his mother. We watch Paul's decline through these patterns and, because we have known him at his most vibrant, we're emotionally torn because we understand what he has lost.

A 10-minute farce with international scope. Ian August does his ridiculous best to keep protagonist Eleanor from achieving her goal: to purchase a print of "Nude Descending a Staircase." It's a well-constructed comedy with pattern, wordplay, absurd logic and theatricality to tell the story: the kind of theater I especially enjoy. This is another winning short play by August.

The stakes couldn't be higher and the chicken-fried steaks couldn't be priced lower in Ian August's comedy "Frozen Foods." Carol and Linda are terrific foils -- a woman of thought, a woman of action -- and August is especially good at taking the audience through Carol's twisted, yet logical to her, realizations about God, the universe and existence.

Carnes has written a gem of a play. Admittedly it's a black diamond with sharp edges that will cut you and make you bleed, but a gem nonetheless. "Everybody Hates Mariah Carey" is a terrific dark comedy that cuts through the treacly twaddle associated with a lot of holiday plays.

DeLanna Studi's "Flight" shows the importance of knowing who you are. It affects not only how an individual lives day-by-day, but how historically mistreated people survive generation-by-generation. Quoya, the protagonist and a member of the seventh generation of the Cherokee Nation, is at a crossroads wonderfully constructed by Studi's dialogue and action. I would love to follow her journey further.

Watching a performance or reading of this play really brings out the warm feelings between the characters. The banter & dialogue soften the characters who -- while doing some bad things to a third person -- really do care about one another. I realized this upon watching a virtual reading by Tiny Theatre on Facebook.

Mark-Eugene Garcia's dark comedy is funny and eye-opening because of the dimensions of these two people. Produce this play and discover it for yourself.

Schatzie Schaefers infuses light and cheer in the institutionally encouraged bonhomie at Cafe Gratitude. This is a generous, open-hearted play.

Lee Lawing infuses a lot of fun into "Storm Eye Closing" with fast-paced action, explosions, cons and double-crossing characters. There's a lot of opportunity for stagecraft: fight choreography, lighting, sound, sets and costumes. Action done well!

"Change is hard."

In one minute, Claudia Haas shows the audience just how much school life in the United States has changed these past few years. "It's Special" is a clear, concise and entertaining script that will shake an audience.

Masterful and sublime. Vovos sets up the rules of this comedy so easily and subtly, and then builds up. God bless John and Katharine, our protagonists. This is a roller coaster of an emotional short play.