Recommended by Scott Sickles

Playwright Hall remembers the cardinal rule of family dysfunction: the more serious the circumstances the funnier fucked-up people get. This family is a mess! And the ensuing cavalcade of barbs, accusations, idiosyncrasies, and terrible coping mechanisms is hilarious in ways that heighten the danger rather than mute it. Most accurate is how one person must stay sane at any given time but it's a tilt-a-whirl as to who it will be. This play also has what may be my favorite stage dad ever! Bravo!

I do love me a hellscape! Especially one immersed in heightened mundanity. And Gatton delivers! BETTER is a luridly fierce extrapolation and magnification of the tyranny of low-level success in middling power structures inherent in working class industry! The characters are relatable in ways that evoke both empathy and shame. He expertly shifts timelines and perspectives while giving us a central mystery with a masterful twist. A funhouse mirror reflection of our times. Beautiful and grotesque.

In perhaps the most wholesome play ever written, Matthew Weaver creates a world in which a gaggle of high school girls react with compassion to a woeful boy in the band. (Do not expect this to happen in the wild.) The ensuing negotiation of curious food and nascent friendship unfolds gently, not without conflict but always veering toward hope. If you’ve ever had a really good tuna sandwich, you’ll know their joy. Leave it to Weaver to spin such a perfect mini Utopia… centered around a sandwich.

I’ve gotta say, I was #TeamMarko for quite a long way in. But then at a certain point about which I will reveal no details things may or may not have taken a turn. Which is it? I won’t spoil it for you! But it’s no spoiler to say that this monologue is delightful! (The Talking Horse Monologue Contest video is perfection!) The writing is the star here and Dresner spins a great story then sticks the landing with a great surprise twist!!! Or does she??? I’ll never tell…

Do not pilfer other people’s Doritos! It will not end well.

No one blends the mundane with the bizarre as seamlessly as Bray. Jim and Liz could not be more normal while Horace Walpole is sublimely heightened - a purely theatrical creation who we’ve somehow met in real life. More than a snazzily costumed Bartlett’s embodiment, Horace Walpole has a soul beneath the verbiage. A neurodivergent avatar? My guess is yes! A fun and surprising piece!

A fun, funny, punny, and astoundingly detailed portrait of the (forgive me) pecking order in the chicken coop. While TALES serves a potent metaphor for how women are devalued by other women as they age, it also embraces the presence of the chicken itself in popular culture. Enjoy!

When a short leaves you dying to know what happens next, chances are it's the perfect length. And this play... Micah and Reed are ten minutes into the most problematic getaway of their lives. Playwright Radtke's provides a stealthily effective entry into the cursed object and cabin in the woods subgenres, weaponizing not only inanimate objects but missing items. The action rises quickly yet almost imperceptibly, until you and they realize they were doomed from the moment they walked in the door.

DEAR GOD!!!!!

I was sorely tempted to leave those two words as my whole recommendation. And I certainly don't want to leave any spoilers. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention how astoundingly visual this audio play is. Even sans set, you see the set, the costumes, the ATMOSPHERE down to the constant wisps of breath in the cold air. As ever, Baughfman instantly plunges us into unsettling circumstances that stealthily build until...

DEAR GOD!!!

You could do this play (and you should!) on a bare stage under two spotlights in the middle of a city and you would still smell rural Ireland. You would feel it in your bones hindering your joints. Because it is an Irish story, even the dread has magic. And what a story it is! The play confronts the intricacies of community, desire, consent, physical and moral weakness, and life-changing violence, weaving past and present together with elegant brutality until it knots itself within you.

I want to respond to this speech with the famous Oliver Cromwell quote: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!” “Prepper” wants to leave civilization behind and we all would be better for it. Wyndham has woven an intricately detailed tapestry of this man’s life and history, coalescing at an urgent moment that reveals both politics and character. Subtle and searing!