Recommended by Scott Sickles

  • Scott Sickles: Mrs. Cratchit's Revenge by Dominica Plummer
    “

    HUZZA, INDEED!

    Not at all what I expected yet I would want it to be nothing else that the Christmas confection it is! Warm and cozy as a fire in the holiday hearth, this REVENGE is full of hope, love, and glorious anachronisms. Plummer has created a delightful new twist on Dickens' classic that deserves to endure just as long!

    [12/16/24]

    HUZZA, INDEED!

    Not at all what I expected yet I would want it to be nothing else that the Christmas confection it is! Warm and cozy as a fire in the holiday hearth, this REVENGE is full of hope, love, and glorious anachronisms. Plummer has created a delightful new twist on Dickens' classic that deserves to endure just as long!

    [12/16/24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: Every, Every by Greg Vovos
    “

    I was crying on page 2.

    I didn't stop.

    I mean, I did eventually. But it took a minute.

    Maybe two.

    Elegantly grounded in power from the start, the play hits the heart hard with simple theatricality which includes a celebration of simple theatricality. Not to mention familial love, adolescent friendship, hope both sparked and dashed. It's an elegy of union, separation, encouragement, and life.

    All you need is four actors, an umbrella and a good stage manager.

    EVERY, EVERY is everything.

    [12/15/24]

    I was crying on page 2.

    I didn't stop.

    I mean, I did eventually. But it took a minute.

    Maybe two.

    Elegantly grounded in power from the start, the play hits the heart hard with simple theatricality which includes a celebration of simple theatricality. Not to mention familial love, adolescent friendship, hope both sparked and dashed. It's an elegy of union, separation, encouragement, and life.

    All you need is four actors, an umbrella and a good stage manager.

    EVERY, EVERY is everything.

    [12/15/24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: A Safe and Obvious Now (1 minute play) by Mark Loewenstern
    “

    OUCH!

    Don't worry. I'll let you discover on your own why this one hurts.

    One page and less than a minute, this is a masterpiece of atmosphere, insight, and potency. As described, it's a simple explanation of a circumstance, a process, a decision of a now that is both and neither safe and obvious.

    I would even call it important. If you know someone who does this, or even just heard about this behavior, this play will MAKE you understand it in a way that will brand itself on you.

    [12/15/24]

    OUCH!

    Don't worry. I'll let you discover on your own why this one hurts.

    One page and less than a minute, this is a masterpiece of atmosphere, insight, and potency. As described, it's a simple explanation of a circumstance, a process, a decision of a now that is both and neither safe and obvious.

    I would even call it important. If you know someone who does this, or even just heard about this behavior, this play will MAKE you understand it in a way that will brand itself on you.

    [12/15/24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: The Winter Wolf by Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn
    “

    I love hotel horror. I also enjoy folk horror.
    Rarely if ever do the twain meet.

    Ta-da!

    Floyd-Priskorn gives us a bona fide resort, closed for the off season, complete with local lore coming to life. I won't say much more because one of the best things about the play is the way it keeps both you guessing. Twists and revelations abound made all the more offkilter by a friend obsessed with improv! The laughs are pitch dark and the atmosphere is musty chic.

    Book your visit now!

    [10.28.24]

    I love hotel horror. I also enjoy folk horror.
    Rarely if ever do the twain meet.

    Ta-da!

    Floyd-Priskorn gives us a bona fide resort, closed for the off season, complete with local lore coming to life. I won't say much more because one of the best things about the play is the way it keeps both you guessing. Twists and revelations abound made all the more offkilter by a friend obsessed with improv! The laughs are pitch dark and the atmosphere is musty chic.

    Book your visit now!

    [10.28.24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: Night At The Wax Museum by Sam Heyman
    “

    The only thing worse than an incel is an intel with power. The false entitlement fueling and fueled by imaginary betrayals in a vicious spiral until revenge is taken on people who have every right and reason to deny them... it's terrifying enough in real life. Here, Heyman brings that revenge fantasy to gripping life.

    Meant to be performed primarily by phones and flashlights with a super creepy soundscape, the play is a gift to actors and designers. Perfect for Halloween or V-Day!

    [10.27.24]

    The only thing worse than an incel is an intel with power. The false entitlement fueling and fueled by imaginary betrayals in a vicious spiral until revenge is taken on people who have every right and reason to deny them... it's terrifying enough in real life. Here, Heyman brings that revenge fantasy to gripping life.

    Meant to be performed primarily by phones and flashlights with a super creepy soundscape, the play is a gift to actors and designers. Perfect for Halloween or V-Day!

    [10.27.24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: Ginny Feels Great in Her Prom Dress and She is Gonna Dance! [a 1-minute play] by Steven G. Martin
    “

    Ginny is the rarest of gems, a protagonist who drives the action without a word and wins the battle with not a single damn given about her detractors and antagonists! Good for her! In fact, her biggest enemy Mariah's biggest enemy isn't Ginny, it's jealousy... self consciousness... a need for amorphous approval from imaginary judges. Fortunately, boyfriend Isaac is there to watch while everyone is dancing and pluck the wallflowers. It's a great 60 seconds!

    Ginny is the rarest of gems, a protagonist who drives the action without a word and wins the battle with not a single damn given about her detractors and antagonists! Good for her! In fact, her biggest enemy Mariah's biggest enemy isn't Ginny, it's jealousy... self consciousness... a need for amorphous approval from imaginary judges. Fortunately, boyfriend Isaac is there to watch while everyone is dancing and pluck the wallflowers. It's a great 60 seconds!

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: i went to a bar all by myself and i didn’t die by Wren Aubrey Latham
    “

    I am allergic to fun.

    My vision of hell is loud and crowded. A 24-hour coffee spot or late-night art installation is my idea of a great time.

    But every now and then... There's a party or a gathering or even, god forbid, a club! I might even be there by myself with my social anxiety and my body... and fuck if I didn't have a great time.

    So thank you, Wren Aubrey Latham, for capturing River's (and my) trepidation and joy!

    And for making her "any size." That did my heart extra good.

    Glorious!

    I am allergic to fun.

    My vision of hell is loud and crowded. A 24-hour coffee spot or late-night art installation is my idea of a great time.

    But every now and then... There's a party or a gathering or even, god forbid, a club! I might even be there by myself with my social anxiety and my body... and fuck if I didn't have a great time.

    So thank you, Wren Aubrey Latham, for capturing River's (and my) trepidation and joy!

    And for making her "any size." That did my heart extra good.

    Glorious!

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: A Second Chance to Say Goodbye by John Busser
    “

    I was fortunate enough to be at my father's deathbed. I wasn't there when he passed, but when I arrived he recognized me right away. No one knew if he would. No one knew if he was lucid. He was. I got to sit and talk with him. I told him I'd be back the next day. I left him resting peacefully. An hour later...

    Busser captures the importance of being there. Of recognition. Of making the effort.
    A moving, resonant drama that still includes the requisite Busserian cleverness.
    Beautiful.
    [10/22/24]

    I was fortunate enough to be at my father's deathbed. I wasn't there when he passed, but when I arrived he recognized me right away. No one knew if he would. No one knew if he was lucid. He was. I got to sit and talk with him. I told him I'd be back the next day. I left him resting peacefully. An hour later...

    Busser captures the importance of being there. Of recognition. Of making the effort.
    A moving, resonant drama that still includes the requisite Busserian cleverness.
    Beautiful.
    [10/22/24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: Short Cut in the Cemetery by Philip Middleton Williams
    “

    YIKES!!! ACK!!! OY!!!

    What a journey! The dark of night! The edge of death! The drink of desire! Secrets abound and revelations astound!

    If you're single or simply unadventurous, this will justify those life choices!

    OOF!

    [10.21.24]

    YIKES!!! ACK!!! OY!!!

    What a journey! The dark of night! The edge of death! The drink of desire! Secrets abound and revelations astound!

    If you're single or simply unadventurous, this will justify those life choices!

    OOF!

    [10.21.24]

    ”
  • Scott Sickles: Emily & the Mind of God by Nora Louise Syran
    “

    There's a profound stillness to the proceedings. I've never seen such an elegant depiction of the liminal space between life and death as the limbo Syran presents. Physically prone and paralyzed, metaphysically Emily Dickinson is poised, upright, a vision in white, as a tug-of-war is waged for her immortal soul. It's a war she's uninterested in winning on conventional terms. The art is what is meant to last. The aftermath of the battle is a stunner that will resound within my soul. [10.21.24]

    There's a profound stillness to the proceedings. I've never seen such an elegant depiction of the liminal space between life and death as the limbo Syran presents. Physically prone and paralyzed, metaphysically Emily Dickinson is poised, upright, a vision in white, as a tug-of-war is waged for her immortal soul. It's a war she's uninterested in winning on conventional terms. The art is what is meant to last. The aftermath of the battle is a stunner that will resound within my soul. [10.21.24]

    ”