Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

This has all the makings of an episode of "The Twilight Zone" thanks to its genial yet slowly building sense of peril, all done up with the niceties of suburban politeness and the underlying tender trap of genteel hatred and chilling assumptions. There is a current vibe to it, yes, but it could be anytime. It could be tomorrow.

Having lived in the area where this play takes place, the horror is amplified by the realization that what David Hilder conveys in this short and all-too-scary story could be the real tale. The spare use of words and well-depicted imagery makes it come alive, and this reader in hot and humid Florida got real shivering chills.

When Santa's reindeer throw a party, they party hearty with Dancer dancing and Vixen vexing, and the preparations for the Elfin Christmas must be perfect so everyone can get Blitzen... Okay, well you get the idea, and Robert Weibezahl pulls out all the stops for this madcap rompin' stompin' fun time.. or should we call it the Donner Party? (Sorry, couldn't resist.) Put this one on the stage and stand back and don't spare the mead and the hooves.

There comes a time in reading a John Busser play that you begin to wonder when he will run out of jokes and hilarious stage instructions. Not to worry: with this latest entry in his comic repertoire, the humor and hilarity comes fast and furious and no chicken yolk...uh, joke is left untouched. The next step for this short is into the hands of Wallace & Gromit for "Chicken Run III."

Truly a horror story in all the right ways: suspense, tension, and a completely unexpected outcome. A lot to accomplish in such a short, tight form and done masterfully.

The choices we make tell us everything about us. In this poignant story with the backdrop of the metaphor of performance wrestling that harks back to "Gladiator" and "The Champ," Brent Alles gives us a bloodied hero who has to choose between going one way or the other. You do not have to be a fan of this sport to see that the choice "The Hammer" has to make will reveal his true off-stage character, and in the end, each of us will ask ourselves which way we would go.

There comes a time in our life when we learn that we never stop learning; ironically, it happens well after the time when we should have known. Robbie, studying hard for his upcoming bar mitzvah, thinks he knows all he needs to know and certainly doesn't need a tutor. But that, he learns, is when he needs one the most. The universality of this experience -- you don't have to be Jewish or a 13-year-old boy -- is that being on your own often takes a guiding hand. Mazel tov, Robbie.

I have had this very conversation with a really hot guy in the Admirals Club at O'Hare and it was... Oh, hell, of course I didn't, but wouldn't it be amazing? Kim E. Ruyle had me at the first awkward moment, and from then on I was on board with this gloves-off meet-up that would sell out like one of Amanda Longington's bodice-rippers at every Hudson News in every airport from Miami to Anchorage. We writers live for stories like this, and Mr. Ruyle gets the gold.

As noted, this is what happens when Sam Shepard hooks up with John Patrick Shanley and Mel Brooks at the Dark Horse in Boulder doing tequila shooters and decide to write a sidebar to "Blazing Saddles" in the Bronx. And it's pure John Patrick Bray.

Having spent a fair amount of time around horses, I know they talk to each other. I've taken a ride in one of the Central Park carriages. I am very sure that the narration Jennifer O'Grady relates to us is both truthful and heartfelt, and you can't help but feel for Linus and Joel as they contemplate their lives, their hopes, and their future.