Recommended by Steven G. Martin

"Tina is Weird" is a fun, quick, bantering short play with cynical, gossipy characters and really tasty bagels. Cathro's ending leaves everyone -- audiences and characters alike -- with more questions than answers. This play is a treat, and I'd enjoy seeing it on stage.

Devine clearly loves the material he's spoofing in "Chuck." His one-act parody has a philosophical bent that would play perfectly naturally alongside the original material.

It's fitting Cefaly starts this short play with a crash. What happens when you put two people under considerable pressure for years -- financial pressure, romantic pressure, civil liberties/political/larger societal pressure? They break. This is a portrait of broken men, together.

Cefaly's short drama feels like a balm for the characters -- a momentary feeling of being soothed, relieved, calmed. There's no guarantee the moment will last for the characters longer than this episode, kind of like life. Highly specific characters, beautiful (though very sparse) use of action to move the story forward.

Delicious sleight-of-hand horror. Radtke comically plays with some tropes, but this script has bloody menace at its core.

"SEEN" was produced at Civic Theatre of Greater Lafayette's 8th annual 10-minute play festival in July 2020. Audiences laughed raucously out loud at the parody elements, and were stunned to silence at the climax. Easily one of the audience's -- and mine! -- favorite plays of the night.

Loewenstern provides tension, chemistry, and steak in this short play. This is a teetering-on-the-edge-of-will-they-or-won't-they? play. The tension and chemistry between Michelle and Ben are rich, and they slowly, perhaps tantalizingly, unfurl.

Insightful and humane, this one-minute play is a reminder that we can offer ourselves some grace in these unusual times. Don't rush through reading this play -- time yourself for a complete 60 seconds. It becomes that much richer and emotional.

And don't bother pointing out the coincidence of Bykowski's title & subtitle. She knows what she's doing.

Pure, unadulterated, joyful comedy. What else could this monologue be when an eight-year-old girl at a tea party figuratively spills the tea on all of her guests?! Audaciously quotable dialogue -- I hope I'm as brilliant as Daphne when I turn 8 years old -- and a wry, understated tone in regards to friendships and connections.

I love that this play is about passionately wanting to create, to write, to honor one's past and one's family, and yet there are obstacles constantly thrown in the way, and all of them are surprising.

Then there's such earnest emotion in the dialogue, and there's such audacious theatricality in action and the compression of time. And I get the feeling that I'll notice different things and have different perspectives on this play each time I read/watch it.

Weaver presents an emotional and earnest negotiation between life and a horrible alternative. And even though there's an unconscionable potential result, I could easily understand Willy's point of view.