Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

This moment of nostalgia transported me back to a place and time that those of us of a certain age and life may recall with wistfulness or even regret that the passing of time has dimmed or refracted into bits and pieces. But growing up isn't something relegated to the young and strong; we are always growing and becoming, and in this fond tale of sense memories, Sam Heyman took me to a place in my life I remember geographically and in my heart. We don't grow old; we grow better.

Paul Braverman is by far one of the wittiest playwrights I know and have had the pleasure to read his plays and see on stage. This short piece has it all: humor, engaging characters, and dialogue that keeps you riveted. And while it becomes pretty clear where he’s going, the outcome is still a wonderful twist and well worth waiting for.

This is both hilarious and deeply profound: two twenty-somethings contemplating life, Halloween costumes, and the true meaning of existence, clearly with some enhanced chemical assistance. Sam Heyman's Bryan and Tad hark back -- at least to me -- to the deep conversations I had with friends amid the smoke and cold pizza crusts in dorms and on-campus apartments of my youth. We uncovered truths beyond measure soon forgotten, and this witty short captures it all, dude.

This tight and suspenseful short play has all the elements of a great horror story: tension, well-developed characters, a tight space, and dialogue that moves swiftly to the shattering conclusion. The audience may anticipate the outcome, but even if they do, watching as Kerry and Cal deal with the approaching inexorable horror, trying not to shout to them to... The fact that the unnamed monster goes for the popular people first is part of the suspense. This is an all-consuming story.

The storm brewing on the horizon looms over this play, as it does over the future of Swamp City Boxing in this tight and brooding story. Doug Gearhart has always brought out multidimensional and human characters in his works, and in this play he pulls no punches, pun intended. We are swept up in the struggles of Big Mike running a small business dependent on people who are struggling themselves to get by in life and overcome their past and face the uncertain future. It's a knockout of a play.

What happens when "Alien" meets up with "Little Shop of Horrors"? Hilarity ensues, and with a nod to "2001: A Space Odyssey," Brent Alles rockets us to Mars where the vegetables are no longer in a vegetative state. The imagery and imagination are in full force here, and I couldn't help but project Douglas Rain's signature voice as PAL-9000. Oh, where is Matt Damon and his taters when we need them to save us?

Put Monty Python, Mel Brooks, and Cheech and Chong together in a drunk tank, add a little New Testament, and bake... And I do mean bake. This is John Busser showing us that nothing is sacred, and what a blessing it is. Sacrilegious? Hey, if Sunday school was more like this, I'd still be a Christian going to confession: "Christ, was I stoned last night..."

I know, I know... trying to explain common sense to some people is, as Selina Meyer would say, like trying to explain gravity to a chicken. But it has to be done and often. Having grown up during the polio epidemic and then the ravages of AIDS, hearing people try to tell me that they know more about science and medicine than some doctor cannot be tolerated. Lives are literally at stake. Leave it to Scott Sickles to put it eloquently into words. This needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

"Everything is theory until it happens." In this powerful drama, Darrin Friedman shows us that black-and-white theories of behavioral patterns don't apply when they are confronted with life in living color. The women in this story are the embodiment of reality vs. theory, and the growth from their traumas and how they react to them is as real as it gets. One of the lines, "Behavior makes sense in context," may sound like a platitude, but in real life as seen here, it is a powerful message.

This tale is told with whimsy and with-it humor, but it also has good insight to the connection between reality and fantasy. Tooth Fairy and the Demon are two sides of the same coin, and as they watch over the sleeping boy, they both want to brace him for what's to come when his grown-up teeth grow in and he must face the tempest of adolescence and life thereafter. Sam Heyman weaves a fine tale, but it is also a worthy parable to be share.