Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

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!

There are epiphanies that can be brought on by visions, by self-awareness, even in a dream; sometimes a combination of all three or more. In this beautifully woven short play, a priest has to convince a young man that what he felt at what he thought was a moment of revelation may be something else entirely. Vince Gatton's deft touch brings out all of the subtle elements of this moment layer upon layer, and what may be the truth is left to us to ponder, which makes it all the more compelling to see and hear.

Just as "Inherit the Wind" by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee makes the point that their play isn't about a specific moment in history -- The Scopes Trial -- "it could be yesterday; it could be tomorrow," Donald E. Baker's cautionary tale "Trade With Klan: A Play about Choices" isn't just about a small town in Indiana in the thrall of the KKK. It's about people nurturing their intolerance that they resort to the comfort of bigotry and the assurance of their own self-indulgent righteousness. This is a universal lesson, and worth hearing again and again.

I seriously believe that this is perhaps the most authentically romantic one-minute play on NPX. There's no fake sincerity or blather about roses and rainbows; it cuts through the bullshit and reveals an honest connection between two kindred souls and goes right to the heart of the matter. After reading it, I needed a cookie or two. Or three.