Recommended by Steven G. Martin

Dark, satiric content beneath a bubblegum pink, or wallpaper yellow, veneer.

Catherine Weingarten's dialogue is tremendous and I love the few anachronistic flourishes that will make a person question just when in the 1900s "1900s Women Bonding" is set ... or lead a person to realize this has been the reality for several, several years.

Rachel Bublitz's monologue about how a shift in the times impacts a person's sense of well-being and self-worth strikes even harder on this very day, when an even larger shift has occurred in women's rights.

Through her protagonist Blue, Bublitz shows how aggressions against a person's Jewish identity build upon each other, how they lead to a horrible cycle of more aggressions. Miranda Jonte's June 24 performance of "Blue" on the virtual Back Porch Theater made the tension, unease, fear and exhaustion absolutely clear.

"Blue" should have a robust set of productions. It is gigantic.

This is a terrific, acid-tipped monologue that stings and burns even more in retrospect. Read it, listen to it at least twice.

With barely a nod of exposition, John Mabey makes the backstory and the stakes for Jules and the unseen audience abundantly clear.

I loved the June 22 performance of "Secret Ingredient" on Back Porch Theater on Facebook. Actor Miranda Jonte was brilliant in letting viewers feel Jules' tumultuous emotions although they were strongly under wraps. I gasped at the suddenness of the ending and its devastating insinuations.

The conflict that Paul Donnelly creates in "Family Visitation" makes my blood boil, will make anyone's blood boil. The surface conflict is simple -- can Randy pass through a door or not? -- but the forces behind the conflict are deep, complex and emotionally bristling. Credit Paul Donnelly for creating a conflict and characters so clear that an audience will know, sickeningly, how the play will end.

I enjoy how Adam Richter is neatly juxtaposing the scope of humanity's problems in this short dark comedy. There's the universal, gargantuan, save-the-human race conflict paired with the intimate, human-versus-self conflict created from bullying and memories of bullying. "You Don't Own My Soul Anymore" is a treat to read and I think audiences would enjoy it as well.

Younger actors should have a glorious time performing this play: It's very physical, there's trickery and imagination. There's even the sense of a loving sibling relationship at its core. Plus it's very physical and there's trickery and emotion.

I love the low-key, unassuming humor in this short play; the punchline lands beautifully considering it's not a punchline at all, but perhaps the subtlest of throwaway lines.

Tom Moran works hard to achieve that effect, making every detail in dialogue, characterization and even action are aligned so an audience gets it. But the audience won't notice the work because the characters and relationships in this play are entertaining, so warmly and wryly created. Lee and Curt are recognizable and human because of who they are and how they act.

"Roadkill" is more subtle than its title suggests. Very enjoyable.

I enjoyed a May 28, 2022, performance of "Life(Chaos)" at the MadLab Theatre Roulette in Columbus, Ohio.

It was a standout among other performances that evening because of its experimental elements: no context as to who the onstage personas are or why they are sharing their insights and experiences, a subtle sound design that included buzzing once in a while, more than a little movement. It created a tension that I'm thinking about days later.

Alaina Messineo has created something I've not seen before, but greatly appreciate. I hope to see it performed live again.

This very short play does not let up. It is powered by anger and disgust, and audiences are going to be hit hard with visceral and intellectual reactions. It's a shock-and-awe campaign and it's brutal. And needed.

I'm angry that this play was written in 2019 and it's still bleedingly relevant in 2022.

I'm smiling through tears after reading this play. Monica Cross has woven together strands of loss, poetry, technology, and memory to tell Billy's tale. Despite its backstory of grief, "On Robots and Raindrops" is a story about life and living.