Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

A morality tale wrapped up in a nursery rhyme for our tech-infested time? Of course! And it works beautifully. The relationship here is as tenuous as the clouds that roll by, changing by the moment. Kudos to Greg Burdick for making us all too aware of how we sometimes see things that aren't there and read into them our own flaws and short-comings.

A fun moment in a coffee shop where celebrity spotting -- is it really him? -- shows the length one friend will go to make another happy.

Step 1: You admit that you have no control over cookies; that your life has become unmanageable.
I know exactly how Terry feels and why he does what he does. After reading or seeing this short play, so will you.

I can't think of any other playwright who could write this play about this topic and make it so true.

This is poetry, plain and simple, and simply beautiful. The interaction and the single words speak volumes, and have you listening to every word. There's not a wasted moment, and it's a haiku, a sonnet, a ballad, a love song, and sheer fun.

All too often adults forget how worldly-wise younger people are. It seems that something makes us forget how complicated and intricate relationships can be, but that would explain why children barely tolerate the older fools. Scott Sickles captures this complex and enlightening time through the eyes of Daphne on the cusp of being eight and therefore showing wisdom that is as insightful as it is logical. A gem of a piece.

For someone who just downloaded the GrubHub app and is being seduced ever so delicately by the siren song of Free Delivery on Your First Order and the knowledge that with isolation comes temptation, this monologue is the truth, even if I know I can resist it. Or can I? I can smell the fries, remember the sauce, even feel the tingle of the soda bubbles against my nose, shutting out the sounds of the screaming babies and drawing me ever closer to another.... what was I saying? Oh, yeah... this is a moment of sheer magic.

A very nice blend of poetry, art, memory, and truths. As with both poetry and visual art, the unspoken and unseen are as important as the perceived.

Scott Sickles takes an incident between two nations in a perpetual stand-off and reduces it to the basic element that we can all understand: the visceral response to an unconscionable action. Even with all the resources of two of the world's superpowers at their ready, it is at the human level that history turns. This is a well-crafted drama in every sense of the word, but it is also enlightening in the almost benign manner with which it is dealt with. And for those of us who actually remember the incident, it sheds a light, even if it is theatre.

Being of an age where I remember Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians on TV on New Year's Eve, I had a hard time at the start remembering that this is parody. That's the way it should be. David Hansen's skill at making me believe in his reality is perfectly suited for this material, and those who never heard of Mr. Lombardo will get a good look at how to write a seamless satire that brings you right in and holds you.