Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

"It can't just be every soul for himself out here." When two men who shared two very different sides of war meet up in the middle of a Wisconsin winter, they discover truths about themselves and each other. Knight, a veteran of the war in Iraq, and Ahmad, an Iraqi transplanted to the Midwest, form a bond that seems improbable until Douglas Gearhart brings out more than just their own stories; he finds their souls. The characters are beautifully crafted, and there is so much richness in what they tell us. This is a story that needs to be told.

In the awkward moment of a first meeting, the tentative dance of what to say/not say is breathless, especially in out in the open where everyone passing by can see it. Sam Heyman's Chip and Brett are equally charming and sometimes klutzy. Knowing this is the first of a series makes it even more intriguing, and gives one hope that whatever road these two young men travel, it will be informing and endearing. (And it's nice to know that being a college freshman today isn't that much different than it was in 1971.)

I like baseball. I never played on a team; just pick-up games with friends and at school, and I never learned how to pitch. What I did learn and one reason I love the game is that it's not about raw athleticism like football or basketball; it is about teamwork and friendship. Cole Hunter Dzubak's team shows that the game isn't just about the fundamentals of throwing a curveball but making the connections that last long after the game is over. He places his story in the past, but it could be today or tomorrow. Batter up.

We collect things. Look around and you will see something that means nothing to someone else but has meaning. Perhaps it is a souvenir of a trip or something given to you by a relative from a trip they took, and with it come the memories of that trip or that person. Perhaps you wonder why they chose that piece; what did it mean to them? Why did they choose it for you? In this spare but powerful monologue that is part of a story, Andi connects with Frankie, long lost, but finds something worth holding and collecting: a life.

When I read the premise, I was going to say "what playwright hasn't had this happen to them in the middle of the night?" But Robert Weibezahl stays away from the tropes of arguing with yourself and really does get to what keeps writers staring at the ceiling wondering why IT'S JUST NOT WORKING? This short and very smart piece catches the essence of the simple fact that those of us who fear rejection and dread the fragility of creation are drawn inexorably to it. It is the curse -- but also the blessing -- of art.

Dead-on accurate, and skates really close to at least one couple I know really well who made it last for almost 72 years...

It could only happen in a play by Scott Sickles wherein two very different people who have, frankly, very little to brag about in terms of positive personal interaction skills could be friends... and breathtakingly co-dependent. Yet Vesper and Kaden have that kind of relationship that makes this moment of human comedy work so well. And one can only imagine what the jilted Vesper must be like to attract the now-departed lover Mace in the first place. No matter; it all works, and these two people need each other in the same way we need to share their story.

The power of the story of these brothers and their connection isn't in just what has happened -- or will happen. It is in the honest and plain-spoken monologues that comes from these characters that envelop you slowly until you realize you are fully pulled in. Then comes the revelation, and only then do you see the craft that Jan Probst has wrought in this short but powerful play.

We have heard this story before: who really inspired and wrote Shakespeare's plays? Many theories abound: some are outlandish (the Klingons), some are dryly scholarly; maybe it was just Shakespeare alone. That doesn't mean that a stylish and well-crafted tale with intriguing and fully-drawn characters can't be told. Emily McClain's deft, witty, and fast-paced drama with true consideration for both history and informed speculation -- not to mention a certain amount of sex appeal -- makes the case that another shadowy figure had a hand in them. In the reading at Valdez, it was a fun and heartfelt play.

This lightning-paced mash-up/send-up/take-off on the Scottish play and the legends of Santa Claus has everything you want and some moments that will leave you breathless with laughter. Imagine William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, C. Clement Moore and Edgar Allan Poe doing tequila shooters at a dive bar on Christmas Eve and coming up with a last-minute Christmas show for the Addams family. Ho ho augh!