Recommended by Steven G. Martin

This is an intimate monologue. It's almost too much, except for Scott Sickles' skill.

Subtle choices by Sickles will pull in a reader, an audience: choice of protagonist, choice of protagonist action. Sickles also provides enough hints to backstory and history in "Fracture," but leaves some mystery behind just to make sure this monologue doesn't pass too easily.

There's just enough friction created by the mystery and additional intimacy in the direct language to make "Fracture" come alive while reading and no doubt come alive in performance.

Christian St. Croix dramatizes a very real truth in a theatrical, engaging way with "Duffel Bag." We lose things -- big and small -- as we grow older, even when they're the last connections we may have to a person or place that has meant a lot to us.

I love how St. Croix creates Brian's dual voice as the subject of a memory and the reflections of the person trying to remember. It is engrossing to read the back-and-forth of the two perspectives on the page, and it would be even better when shown on stage.

Dominica Plummer has created a successful update of the morality play, centering this 10-minute satire around the concepts of just versus unjust, nebulous logic versus absolute fact in the death of Donald Rumsfeld and his interview with the Grim Reaper.

"sixty ton angel falls to the earth" has two wonderful roles; Plummer creates an impasse between the most self-assured yet sinuously negotiating mortal and Death, who seems slightly flustered. There's also comedy -- including wordplay that would make Nixon grimace -- and a strong nod to the tradition of the medieval morality play.

This 10-minute play tells a heart-rending tale of a loving couple whose love isn't enough to overcome unusual obstacles.

Scott Sickles brings so much complexity to "Imperfect Storms": real-life current events (the July 2021 floods in Europe); Belgian mythology/fantasy; a same-sex loving couple whose most biggest challenge isn't that they're both the same sex; a lot of design and production values ... but at its core is the story: two individuals who are so right for one another, but have to separate.

There is adventure and fantasy, but I especially found heartache in this terrific short play...

This is a wonderful example of an historic play in which the historic, tumultuous event -- in this case, the rise of Hitler as Chancellor of the Third Reich in Germany -- is shown by its effects on others, in this case, filmmaker Fritz Lang ("M," "Metropolis"). I enjoy those kinds of historic plays, those that shine a light on the everyday.

DC Cathro's tremendous skill with dialogue and character are on stark display in "Lang" -- which also feels noir-ish in atmosphere. This is a rich, strong 10-minute drama with a lot going to its credit.

This 10-minute comedy will make audiences laugh out loud -- the image of Jesus proving his existence is a funny one. There are plenty more comic moments, plus some cringe-worthy ones involving parental choices.

John Busser's "Lent Me Your Ears (An Easter Tail)" is fun, quick-paced, and prods its characters -- and its audiences -- to be a little more open to those things they may not believe in. Especially when those unbelievable things come knocking at our door.

This 10-minute play needs to be watched more than once. It's intimate, but the intimacy extends only between Ian, the protagonist, and the audience who is allowed to hear his revelation.

Hilary Bluestein-Lyons shows how fear can impact a life. We get a moment that can change a character's life -- hopefully for the better -- but instead it just hangs in the air with nothing to latch onto.

"The Boy Who Woke Up and No One Knew Him" is quietly dramatic and shares a story that perhaps many LGBTQIA+ people will relate to.

"We are not even asking you to think!" But audiences will think -- about the magnificence of women's bodies, about women's reproductive rights -- before, during, and after this emotional, funny, sharp, and scary one-woman immersive show.

Emma Goldman-Sherman beautifully shows her world-building and character-building skills in "A Tour of the Early 21st Century Reproductive System (the way we used to have babies) & Real Live Birth Experience!" Grounding Docent Donna in that reality of the year 2203 makes her search even more emotional because we can infer what she is up against.

This is a very dark, very funny, and very smart short play.

Kullen Burnet knows the clichés of summer camp horror movies and sidesteps them in "She's Totally Killing It." When even the characters are tired of clichés, it's time to move on from them and Burnet does just that.

And the ending is perfect: scary and liberating all in one moment of action.

This one-to-two-minute play is a bright, light and comic jaunt. From its tongue-in-cheek title to the button, it's pure fun (and oh it will make a person hungry). The dialogue feels quick and banter-like with its back-and-forth quality, and the story ends with a perfect comic line.

Kaushik Mukerjee shows there's inherit conflict in even the most everyday situations. By paring down those everyday situations to the dramatic essentials, Mukerjee makes "Very Important Choices" a good, funny play.