Recommended by Steven G. Martin

A delightful play for young performers and young audiences.

Evan Baughfman's one-minute "Oona's Me Party" focuses on behavior, and it includes fun moments of imaginative play and friendship between girls.

"Oona's Me Party" makes its point in a gentle, easygoing, and sweet way.

What happens when you can't leave your present situation and its challenges? You get good at coping with them, fast.

DC Cathro's protagonist Donna knows exactly what to do when chaos from the outside world enters her private world. We know the reality of Donna's situation -- we see it, there is no spinning it to something positive or even neutral. What little dialogue there is is functional, there is no surprise or shock or awe expressed.

"Donna" shows us a world-weary woman who, sadly, has grown accustomed to the weariness.

When it comes to showing and receiving love, to each their own!

Cassie M. Seinuk creates a pair of souls who clearly belong together -- Salty and Moose, neither of whom care for commercial expressions of love. "Occupy Hallmark" brings the two childhood friends together after a rough (separate) evening for both. They get to be a little crass, a little mean-spirited, and maybe make a connection.

"Occupy Hallmark" us all about the roots of love: being with someone who gets you, not being with someone who gets you the biggest gifts.

A romantic comedy that is actually fun and funny!

Audiences and actors will love the physical comedy in this play -- and there is a lot of it! -- but what I especially appreciate is how Hilary Bluestein-Lyons shows Marcie's and Patty's love for one another by how they think of one another's interests while preparing for their wedding. There's an emotional core to this play, which the final line illuminates.

"Marcie and Patty are Getting Married" is a fun design challenge, a crowd pleaser, and a genuinely enjoyable play.

"Aurora" is gorgeously expansive. It's so much more than just its plot.

Ramón Esquivel has created a story and conflict that are immediate and extreme, and the audience will pay attention. But then the dialogue absolutely blooms and there is unexpectedly more to understand and enjoy. And Esquivel covers huge expanses of content: death and dying, life and living, the nature of love and remembering.

"Aurora" contains poetry, action, character arcs, and grand thoughts. This short one-act play will wash over an audience, and it may be too much for a single viewing, but it's glorious.

In a similar vein as the short story "The Lady or the Tiger?" this one-minute play could be a fine test to understand personalities better.

Adam Richter creates two characters who are perfect foils: what one is is exactly what the other isn't. Alpha and omega. "Collector's Item," for me, is about the contrast of Lucius's and Josh's perspectives. And I think audience will either be shocked by the ending or they'll nod in agreement and wonder what all the kerfuffle is about.

Robust buildup, quick-hitting payoff. "Collector's Item" is very good comedy.

A strong, welcome jolt of humor and honesty into what the protagonist otherwise could have turned into a maudlin, saccharine interaction.

Adam Richter nicely sets up this 1-minute play by showing the audience the answer to the question before the question is even asked.

"W.I.T.A.?" should be produced in short play festivals everywhere.

This delightful one-minute comedy will leave audiences laughing.

Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend has twisted a trope from pop culture just enough to enhance the comic possibilities. The protagonist's personality shines in just a few pieces of dialogue, and the end line is a lovely shock (and a bit of comeuppance).

"The People You Meet in Heaven" is comic joy and would be magnificent to produce in a festival of other short plays.

This short drama is sad, as an audience will intuit the two women's relationship adn the given circumstances within just a few lines after the opening.

Hilary Bluestein-Lyons creates a story that slightly meanders like a brook, gently traversing through a conversation filled with talk of flowers, career choices, marriage and divorce, Wheel of Fortune, and birthdays. "Tax Day" is a gentle ride, and Bluestein-Lyons' use of structure and repetition imply so much.

Gentle, quiet, emotional, theatrical. This is a short play to cherish.

A surprisingly tense 10-minute drama that contrasts knowledge and wisdom, theory and practice.

Eric Mansfield nicely develops the characters in "The Board," especially Clarence -- who seems to know more and say less, and Lance, who is newly graduated from West Point. While they aren't confrontational, these two men clearly have different points of view about objectives. It's only later in the play, after the match ends and Lance leaves, that the audience perhaps understands how Clarence came to his perspective. With that understanding, the entire script changes.

Manfield has written a terrific character piece in "The Board."