Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

I have my own reasons why this play brings me to the edge of tears -- and beyond. Robert LeBlanc's loving but honest way of dealing with the effects of dementia is meant to convey the sense of loss, not just by the older man, but by the younger one who sees the slippage and cannot do anything to change it. This play will stay with me for a very long time.

This is a love story indeed, and who knew that pigeons could not only fall in love, aspire to greater things, and even care about their fellow citizens of the world? David Lipschutz's paean to avian affection and hygiene is a charmer and would be fun for both the actors and the audience. Imaginative and fun.

I felt like I was eavesdropping on this conversation: I knew I shouldn't be listening in, but compelled to by human curiosity and the clues that left me wondering, wanting to know these people all that much more. That is the beauty of this play and why I would want to see it on the stage.

We've seen this set-up before: young people poking through a graveyard at night with all the right mood-lighting and set-ups for your standard ghost story, right? Yet Ross Tedford Kendall does a nice turn of making it about them and their friendship and what matters to them in real life. The spirits here are very much within them, and the connection that they have with the past and each other is genuine. That makes it a story worth telling and sharing.

When life comes screaming at you, the instinct is to duck and hide. Sarah is nearing the end of her summer job and finding out that once you're out of the safe haven of high school, it's a messy and confusing world (flat or not), and she's facing it with trepidation. Her boss, though, shares some reality checks, and in this short piece, she shows that wisdom is not measured by degrees.

The history of a family is entangled in history itself. In this open-stage drama that encapsulates today's remnants of the past with the attempt to reconcile and make sense of it, "All of Them Riding on Horses" brings it together. Powerful characters are haunted -- in more ways than one -- by their history and their drive to make amends and reparations become nearly an obsession. Even so, the hope that these flawed and damaged people can put things right at last is a compelling force and makes this a play worth staging and remembering.

Oh, go on and tell me you haven't had this very conversation with someone. Well, perhaps not this exact conversation, but one that is very much like it: the skeptic, joking about the firm belief of another, doing it in a benign, even loving way, until a sliver of reality -- or magic -- creeps in and turns it all around... or does it? DC Cathro's wit and craft for dialogue and fully-developed characters shine forth in this short play, and you will be drawn in, and not by coincidence.

We often share our deepest feelings with strangers, be it a casual acquaintance on a plane, or over an internet chat, but when it comes to doing that in person, we become tongue-tied and private. The reasons are complicated, but in this intimate exploration of the life of Boyd as he grows up, we see how an ebullient boy shoulders the burdens that come with life and how he becomes the rebellious adolescent to the solemn and maturing man. Melisa Tien has given us this intimate portrait of a changing person, and in doing so changes the viewer.

This one-person play is beautiful in its execution: baking an apple pie as a metaphor for America by blending in just the right ingredients in the right amounts to make something beautiful. Gwendolyn Rice's story-telling makes for compelling reading, and the idea of following a complex recipe to soothe her nerves over the outcome of an election and its impact on a friend and co-worker is nothing short of genius. Not only do I want to see this play, I want to savor the result.

All it takes is one pinprick to pop a big balloon, and Adam Richter wields it well in this short and sharp piece. In this case, the pin pricks the gasbag who oozes with privilege and entitlement, and finally gets it in more ways than one. Yay!