Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

There comes a time in many father-son relationships when it grows beyond parent and child and becomes man-to-man. This play does it with the awkward yet caring feelings that both men have for each other and a respect for their own experiences. Donald E. Baker has shown in his full-length plays that he can give us such strong characters, and now he brings those dimensions to this short but meaningful moment of honesty, love, and learning.

I read this and loved eavesdropping on these old guys with their gentle worries about life and memories, lost loves and time inexorably moving on... and then I realize I am the same age as the two friends in this moment. Thank you, Marj, for the gentle reminder of the fragility of life and the bonds of friends.

A memory play told with wistful recollections of people and places is shaped by the one doing the telling, but in this recollection of a moment in his life, Larry does his best to tell us honestly, flaws and all, of his memory of the day he became a man. Told in the fashion of a living flashback brings immediacy to the moments, the people, and the path to the future, and when we learn why Larry is so intent on remembering this event, it becomes even more meaningful. Beautifully done.

Knowing Marj O'Neill-Butler, this play tells her story about finding the way to escape from the gray world of chores and family life by sitting at the keyboard and letting her characters and memories take her away to the stage. But everyone has their escape pod: reading, music, painting, anything that opens the mind and quietly closes the other door. Some have found ways that are destructive, but more often than not, it is good and colorful and expressive. See; you're doing it right now.

There's something universal about university bureaucracy, and as a veteran of eleven years of college and also working on both sides of the desk, I know that Brian Cern's absurdist take on getting a scholarship is not as absurd as you might think. That said, he has skillfully channeled Samuel Beckett with a touch of Abbott & Costello into this madcap dash through the halls of higher learning and the maze of Regent Hall.

In the spirit -- so to speak -- of "Greater Tuna" and "The Blair Witch Project" with a bit of "Ghostbusters," David Lipschutz pulls together a fun and spine-tingling production that could be fun to see staged as well with all the bells and whistles that come with producing live drama for radio or, as the title implies, podcast. Both whacky and weird, you're never really sure if it's a put-on or the real thing... so pay attention!

With the title and the set-up in the first few pages, you're expecting a certain outcome. But no; David Lipschutz takes us in a very different direction that is both unpredictable and yet laden with portent and promise. It is moments like this that make up some of the more interesting and stage-worthy moments of life, and this moment is very much worth sharing.

How's the old saying go... it's not whether you win or lose, but how you get the girl? Or boy? Something like that, right? And even though David Lipschutz makes it no secret as to the outcome [spoiler alert: read the title], it is still marvelous fun to watch the dreams and aspirations come true for Artie at summer camp and how he conquers the world to get there.

I sincerely hope the time will come when the heartbreaking story that Don Baker tells us in "Life Support" is a period piece and a reminder of times long past when family members clung to their faith and practice of loathing and intolerance more for their own inability to see love than their capacity for compassion. Sandra has so little room for hope -- not just for her dying brother but for her own claustrophobic world built on the clay of fear and insecurity -- that she is the abomination, not Ben. I hope others see this as that lesson.

I work at a school where we have Code Red drills -- active shooter -- on a regular basis. We treat them like fire drills: an annoying necessity because that's our way of wishing the reality of the real threat away.

This moment in time, so brutally brought to life by Cole Hunter Dzubak, takes away the annoyance like a slap, a punch, a kick, and no amount of wishing takes it away. The immediacy is breathtaking, and the only thing left is the hope that in the future this is only a play.