Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

This gets right to the heart of every confrontation I remember from Grade 3 and learning that just because you think you're right doesn't make it so. Monica Cross has the perfect touch in capturing the determination of these young people as they find their way into the world, and the budding friendship, so well shown by their vulnerability cloaked in certainty, is the foundation that will last long past the classroom. I know so because it is so.

Imagine, if you will, that moment of purgatory imagined by Ingmar Bergman in "The Seventh Seal" with the iconic figure of Death, the chessboard, and all of the meditations of life and death... in the skillful imagination of Scott Sickles. Need I say more? Well, okay... it's terrific fun and deep insight all in ten minutes.

Having been on both sides of the desk -- as student and teacher -- this short two-hander packs a velvet wallop. Understatement is one of many of Marj O'Neill-Butler's talents as a writer, and every word has meaning, and here it plays to near perfection. I also know that teachers like Mrs. Dunn have an impact on students long after the bell rings; their caring and lessons reverberate for life. Good teachers know this, and this play puts it on the stage very well. Good luck, Bryant.

TV and the movies and -- ugh -- commercials have set us up to believe that communication between generations, especially within a family, is too complicated to be resolved without shrieking matches or selling us something. But as Marj O'Neill-Butler has portrayed here, real communication, without the cliches and the tropes, not only can happen when we listen, it also makes for a really strong and enduring message to us all, and worth sharing on stage. Gram and Cassie are not so different, and it's beautiful to watch as they are finding that out.

Family gatherings are fertile grounds for finding out the truths and feelings that lie beneath the veneer of celebration or mourning. When the Rubin-Rice family gathers for Passover and the observation of the traditions, we listen in as brothers Joel and Leo, estranged for years, come to terms with the past and the tragedies -- large and small -- that caused the rift. As it happens at every Seder, it is the child asking the questions, seeking the hidden truths, who leads them to find it, along with the afikoman -- the matzoh -- itself.

Marj O'Neill-Butler has a unique way of getting us to know and feel characters so well that within a few lines we feel as if we've known them for a very long time. We are here witnessing two strangers brought together by the miracle of two births taking place off-stage and yet we know how both of them will be welcomed into the world by their families. A touching and truthful moment for father and grandmother with worthy amount of love, humor, and compassion.

In the days of AM Top 40 radio (and a bottle of Annie Greensprings wine), it was all too easy to mis-hear the lyrics of your favorite number 1 hit. Arianna Rose has taken that to giddy heights with this short absurd piece that speaks in nothing but those mislyrics (aka mondegreens) and artfully, skillfully makes sense and has a giggly good time doing it, proving that the ants are my friends, they're blowin' in the wind. It's fun, and even more when you see the handy guide she includes so you know "Oh, THAT'S what they said!"

The family gathering is not a new idea. It's been explored by some of the best: Chekhov, Lanford Wilson, August Wilson, Terrance McNally, and Lillian Hellman just to name a few. In this tale of a family sharing -- and often revealing -- their lives, we're brought in as eavesdroppers. Tom Rowan's mixture of old and young, straight and gay, liberal and conservative, you're bound to expect fireworks. But he handles it with a mastery of strong characters, all fully developed and all with a stake in the outcome. You may not like all of them, but you know them.

Is it a ghost story or is it the past returning to haunt Dan and Eric? They have a life together, a new baby, good friends who support them... and then moments of darkness creep in. Where are they coming from? The lost love, the pain of remembrance, or could it be something even deeper? Vince Gatton weaves a tale that is worthy of the best suspense tales in that he never lets us get ahead of the tale: we hang on every moment.

Donald E. Baker has crafted a taut, intense, and suspenseful tale of confrontation and confession. It is made all the more so by the seemingly casual nature of the confrontation between the abuser and the survivor. It is worthy of the comparison to Rod Serling's work in the intricate depiction of the memories and realities they both recall, almost as if there could have been something more than abuse. But, as we learn, that is how the manipulator weaves his web. The build-up to the end is a masterpiece of writing, suspense, and payoff. Stunning.