Recommended by Steven G. Martin

I love Evan Baughfman's gracious, soothing one-minute monologue. It's a gentle plea that asks all of us to be a little more thoughtful, a little more generous, a little bit kinder. It is a vast request made in the most intimate way, and it could sustain the greatest impact.

I look forward to watching "Easy to Say" performed during the 2021 Gi60 U.K. Festival in December 2021.

I enjoy stories that move from the mundane to the horrible, but I can't recall many that travel the reverse direction.

I love that Madison Mondeaux plays with my expectations with this short monologue. Madison creates such horrible, visceral details at the start of "The Wreck of the Angelica May," it's genuinely gruesome. But there's a spin at the end that will leave an audience with jaws agape, wondering, "Did we really just go in that direction"?

Dark oh so dark, but with an ending that will bring forth a blast of laughter from an audience.

What I love about this one-minute play is that the audience sees how expressing positivity has the potential to create positivity for others.

Matthew Weaver doesn't naïvely proclaim that all of life is happiness and joy. He shows in "Infinite Possibilities" that there may be disappointment and darkness in a person's future. But that's when the ray shines brightest.

I look forward to seeing this play performed at the 2021 Gi60 UK event in December.

"Sports, Weather, Murder" feels like the kind of play that changes depending on who is watching it. I imagine younger people who are beginning to make their way in the world will feel differently about Bey's interactions with her mom than parents would feel. Or even people without parents.

That's the kind of quality writing we're talking about: a one-minute play whose content leads to questions about point of view and perspective. Thoughtful and deep.

I love the depth and variety of pain that DC Cathro creates in this short drama. Guilt, resentment, anger, and even acceptance wind their way through the brief minutes of "Goodbye, Howie."

I love that Bridge is able to express his feelings, and I love even more than Lisa has the strength to stop him from going too far.

Ultimately it feels this story is about the beginning of healing, the kind of story I'd like to see more of on stage.

Toby Malone's short comedy broadly captures the dynamics of a server-customer relationship. There's plenty of physical action, a clear goal for both characters that leads to conflict, and a dollop of irony at the end to wrap it all up.

"Cinnamon," intended for high school performers, would please audiences and performers alike.

I admire how Joe Nelms has crafted "Plus One" specifically for virtual theatre. The script takes advantage of the strengths of virtual storytelling. Those strengths are implemented into the story and add to the power of the climax.

And it's not just the method of storytelling that I like about this short drama. Nelms also has written a story that plays to our immediate concerns and fears. Ultimately, a heartbreaking tale told well.

This is a brisk, laugh-out-loud, action-packed, silly, joyful, one-minute comedy. It does nothing but build from the first beat to the last. If I were to see it on stage, I would wheeze from laughing so much.

Absolutely delightful. Duncan Pflaster has created a one-minute comedic masterpiece. I'm still smiling thinking about the script. I'll re-read it now.

What I like about this short monologue by Janice Hibbard is the feeling of movement and scale: the small speaker against the grand landscape of Earth, which is also small compared to the grand sprawl of the sky and its uncountable stars.

"They Simply Shine" will especially be enjoyed by starwatchers, by people who question their physical place in the universe. It's very brief, but also evocative.

I like "The Human Laureate" very much. First, Alexander Hehr fully embraces its philosophical leanings by providing a literally universal setting and character. Second, there are plenty of funny lines of dialogue, unless you're an easily offended lemming, banana or hairless ape. Third, Hehr makes you think about your own humanity including just how human you are.

"The Human Laureate" deserves its rich production history to be expanded.