Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

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!

Even in the setting of a reading in a conference center such as the Valdez Theatre Conference, the ethereal and mesmerizing atmosphere comes through. The characters grow and change -- literally -- as we listen to the moments and the echoes of words and sounds that make this a tale of lyrical beauty. Written with the music of Mike Vernusky, this would be a thrilling production on stage, and I hope to be there when it comes to full life.

The way we grieve tells a lot about how we see ourselves in relation to our loved ones: those still with us, and those we mourn. In "Shrines," Ashley Rose Wellman shows us how one family clings to the memory of a lost child and does it in a touching, often humorous, and at times creepy way, yet we never lose sight of the loss each character feels and how it has changed them over the years.

Even in the reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference with the cast standing at music stands, the imagery and resonance of the story came through. The depth of feeling for the situations -- facing life-changing decisions and the shelter as a metaphor for both the two and four-legged characters in the play -- was palpable. And the parallels of the lives and decisions that must be made will leave the audience with many impressions long after the play is over. Beautifully crafted.

The reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference gave us intimate insights to a relationship with touching moments, combative clashes, and the unspoken words that make up this bond between two people who clearly love each other. Nothing is overdone but nothing is lost in this achingly beautiful and powerful two-hander.

A fun little tea party this is with all the proper treats and the tables well-turned. You will genuinely grin at the way Christopher Plumridge plays the stakes here, and when the final twist comes, you'll want to be there.