Recommended by Philip Middleton Williams

This is a sweet little piece that’s succinctly and beautifully sums up how wonderful life can be. It’s the simple things that make it worth living.

This is a chilling and compelling play with strong characters who leap out at you from the page and take you into their world of power struggles, even if the reward is a crust of moldy bread. In this powerful drama of the horrors of Soviet imprisonment, we see glimmers of humanity that these women cling to as much as they cling to life itself. This is a masterpiece of storytelling from a playwright with a well-earned reputation for just the right blend of humor and brutal honesty in the same breath.

This version of Two Boys on the Beach where it becomes three boys loses nothing. The wonder, the anticipation, the breathless joy and the sense of change is still there. For those of us who identify as LGBTQ, it has the added meaning of speaking to exactly what we may have felt at that age. It is a beautiful work.

This is one of those plays that you wonder how in the world did Matthew Weaver know exactly what my life was like when I was twelve and on the cusp of knowing what all those feelings and urges meant? And what it was like to be so close and yet so far away from the truth? And how it felt to realize that what was so important ten seconds ago now means something else entirely? Oh, so many truths in such a short, sweet, and meaningful play.

One of the best of many lines in this short, sharp, lyrical tragedy is "Life is root canal," the implication being that you can't survive it without being high on the painkiller that will inevitably kill you. I read this knowing in my heart how it would end, but it held me all the way because there is that hope, however fleeting, that freedom and release from the thrall can come without surrender.

I am sure that there will soon be a vaunted genre known as "a Rand Higbee play," and many will try to emulate him. But, like this tale, there's nothing quite like "Cherries Jubilee," and there's nothing quite like his dry wit and ingenious story-telling.

What's in a pronoun? Well, the way William J. Goodwin has it, a question of identity runs smack-dab into Strunk & White with this delightful look at how parents come to terms with their adult child and their preference(s). Without preaching and with a gentle dig at both sides -- not to mention a lesson in grammar -- we see a family finding common grounds no matter what ze many call them.

This piece is packed with so much truth about relationships -- even if they're just drive-by -- that applies to all of us, regardless of gender identity. Asher Wyndham has such a way of crafting this gem that you want it to go on. What a marvelous piece for an audition or a festival.

Marj O'Neill-Butler has such a wonderful way with both words and characters, and in this gentle but sharply-honed look at modern art, she brings both to bear with the touch of a fine artist. Never heavy-handed, this play brings out the truth and foibles in each of the three characters. The deftness and wit makes this play worth seeing and producing.

Asher Wyndham has an amazing ear for not just dialogue, but perfect-pitch cadence, timing, and going right for the truth. Granny Lola is so down-the-line perfect in all of those respects, and I speak from experience: I know her and love her, bless her heart. This would be an amazing piece for an audition, and stunning in performance.