Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

John Busser mixes sketch comedy (think Carol Burnett and Vicky Lawrence) with a sly insight into what we all hope will happen and what we expect when we consult with the spirits. Janice is looking for her true love, and Madame Claire has all the answers. Will you laugh a lot when you read it? Signs point to Yes!

The rule is usually is that "what you see here, what you say here, what you hear here, stays here," but in this kind of meeting, it's what you don't see, say, or hear that makes this fantasy trip work so well. Another Lee R. Lawing masterpiece of suspense and humor.

Sometimes hearing something hurtful and soulless can inspire a moment of hope, even if it is small and faint... an ember, perhaps. A life lesson well-framed and poetic.

Talk about your date from Hell... Actually, it's very charming in a demonic sort of way, and with the wit and humor that is uniquely Sicklesian, you will want to see what happens when the guy and the demon and the gal look for love... or at least a kiss.

Maybe this should be called "Gross Encounters of the Turd Kind."

This is not for the faint of heart, the dainty, or those who can't get their shit together, because this hilarious take on the film noir... or is it brun... is one long download of brownware. Scott Sickles holds nothing back and the list of euphemisms and colorful expressions that flow through it are worth the imagination, not to mention the cringing laughter.

An Elizabethan "oops" cleverly done in such a way that the Bard himself could have used it. Then again, if the friar had done his job, we'd never have had a certain play or a story from the west side.

A private moment that means nothing to anyone else but these two people, yet a universal cry of pain, of joy, of sorrow, of remembrance. Poetic and powerful.

Suspenseful and told in such a cold and chilling way that you keep going, holding your breath, wanting to know but afraid as well. A wonderful piece for an audition... or telling spooky stories around the campfire.

Several geological ages ago I took a grad school seminar in Scandinavian Drama at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis taught by Prof. Stockenstrom. We studied the hell out of "Miss Julie," so I approached Heather Meyer's play with piqued curiosity. Oh, how I wish we could have had this play alongside the work it is based on during those frigid dark days of class because it would have done two things: enlightened me to what that tortured soul Strindberg was writing about more than any seminar, and it would have been great to hear Prof. Stockenstrom laugh for once.

A fascinating little moment that has the perfect twist at the end. Then again, I expect no less from Matthew Weaver.