Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

The set-up is not new, and neither is the situation -- a couple reaching the end of their relationship -- but Sean Gref has a great way of getting our attention and listening to the moments. Even the expected intrusion is handled so well that if you think you know what's going to pass, well... I really enjoyed the way he was able to get to the thoughts of these characters, and at the end, we're caught by surprise. This would be a great addition to a short play festival.

I remember hearing about the Flint water crisis, but this powerful drama brings it to life as seen and told by the people who suffered through it. I also remember the indifference of Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan legislature that treated it as a minor problem that didn't really bother the people that mattered. As I read it, I was reminded of "The Laramie Project," the play that forced us to pay attention to the horrendous crime of homophobia and the indifference of those who refused to accept the reality of it. A deeply affecting play.

Having grown up with the traditional Christmas tree and all the heirloom ornaments and, at one time, three cats in the house, I felt this deeply and smiled the whole way through. We even had a lighted angel ornament (who looked more like a hood ornament) atop the tree. I know the stress the season brings with the forced jollity and the adherence to tradition are migraine triggers, so seeing it from the side of the ornaments and the cat brings a dimension of appreciation for Adam Richter's imaginative interpretation of the reasons we go through this every year.

This will be so much fun for everyone: the actors, the audience, and even the props person, and when they pull it off, it will be magic. The stakes in the Mount Pleasant Baking Competition are higher than ever, and when the head judge rules, all bets are off.

I really had to restrain myself in coming up with bad puns and swampy allusions in writing this recommendation, so suffice it to say that the imagination of Jill Blevins has done genius work with taking the folktale of the Nativity to new heights of comic absurdism and not just a little graphic revelation about the miracle of amphibious life cycles. The classic Greek play "The Frogs" by Aristophanes was required reading in college, but this one should be required -- warts and all (oops, pun alert) -- for any open-minded Christmas festival of plays.

Breaking into a new job can be trying, especially if it's something that you will be working at forever... literally. Dana Hall's smart and touching story about Tammy learning the ropes of her afterlife under the watchful and helpful guidance of Edith is a lesson for us all in not taking what we had for granted, and the humor is not lost at all (so tempted to include my favorite line). Meanwhile, the family that is her training ground has their own lives to account for, and that makes this truly a play worth staging and seeing.

This short confection of two people with completely different views on many things seems like a dating disaster from the start. But in the hands of Darrin J. Friedman, with his well-tuned sense of timing and a great ear for dialogue, you're rooting for both Billy and Susan to find that one thing that might -- just might -- lead to something more than just a cup of coffee. Fun, sweet, honest, and truthful.

Words matter. So do pauses and the space between the words. Ricardo Soltero-Brown proves yet again that his plays use those truths so that we take the dialogues, monologues and the moments far beyond face value. Listening to two unnamed people share their lives and the reaction of a dog, you find yourself filling in the spaces and the moments in anticipation, waiting for the next word, beat, silence, and moment. I could not stop reading it, and on stage it would be riveting.

Picture it: a writers room where Charles Addams, Mel Brooks, and Ira Levin ("Rosemary's Baby") are tasked with coming up with a very special episode of a 1960 sitcom. Stumped for ideas, they retire to a dive bar out by the interstate and do tequila shooters until Steven G. Martin stops by to eavesdrop and take it all down. Except I think Mr. Martin stole -- excuse me -- invoked all of their ideas and crafted it into one of the funniest short plays to crawl out on stage.

There are times in reading "The Detective" that I had that illicit thrill of eavesdropping, knowing I shouldn't be, but drawn inexorably toward the conversation(s) between Otto and Casey. It's the same kind of sensation I get with the plays of Harold Pinter and Sam Shepard: implications and innuendo abound along with the suspense that kept my attention riveted even as I try to decipher their coded language that only those with deep connections and stark differences understand. Soltero-Brown's deft use of language and construction will make this a great play for actors.