Recommended by Scott Sickles

Fuckin’ David! Hell! Fucking DavidSSS!!! Plural! You got one whose fuckin’ late and the other one making fucking rules of fucking conversations he’s not even a fucking part of! Then again, maybe — MAYBE... they’re not fucking plural! Maybe they’re the same fucking David! Who fucking knows because the one’s not fucking here yet, and because of the other one’s stupid fucking rule, we’ll never fucking know! Fuck!

Dark times often call for a special satire whose double edges are simultaneously sharp and blunt. DAVEY, DEATH-BRINGER is not meant to be subtle but it is sublime! A spot-on send up of the vainglorious immaturity and entitlement of a deluded fallen president – oops! I meant “pirate”! ARRRGH! – the monologue and it’s shiver-me-timbers pirate speak provides great fun as it lands its blows! If only real life shared Wyndham’s sense of justice. Who knows? It just might.

Quietly powerful and breathtaking, MOTIVATION demonstrates, with great objectivity, the difference between personal and legal Hate. Cold logic is at war with absurdity, resulting in an incomplete and unsatisfactory justice for the aggrieved.

This metaphor can extend to so many race- and bigotry- related crimes where “hate can’t be proven” or the law was “technically not broken.” By focusing on this one crime and its complexities both under the law and in the hearts of those involved, Loewenstern tells a gripping story while shouting out a thunderous call for change.

The should be a sign. “SLOW DOWN. RELATIONSHIP IN PROCESS.” Bailey and Trip have hit some serious rainy night long term couple doldrums. Fortunately, Zaffarano has given her characters a creative solution, several in fact, as well as some honest and grounded emotional obstacles. You either know this couple, have been this couple, or currently are this couple.

Race and gender are unassigned, so there are infinite dynamics to explore based on the personas of the individual actors and who’s cast opposite one another.

THE JAR a fun, sexy, romantic, deeply honest play with great characters and greater possibilities!

Such a spectacular title needs a worthy tale to accompany it and WOW this monologue lives up to it!

Brilliantly understated, effortlessly funny, and so well thought out. It’s the story of a dilemma and the limbo one gets trapped in when there are no worthy options yet abandoning the quest is equally unthinkable. A joy to perform (I read it aloud) it would make a great audition piece or be the high point of any monologue festival.

[I just read MAKE WAY in Canyon Voices Literary and Art magazine.]

A campfire has never been less cozy. Osmundsen creates a casual nightmare of a world: a combination of Cambodia’s Year Zero, Fahrenheit 451, and a night at the beach. An indictment of oppression wrought and perpetuated by ignorance, MAKE WAY celebrates creativity, literature, history, and imagination by placing them in mortal peril. The characters all have humanity despite the insidiousness of their task. The tension is as high as their price for noncompliance. Eternally timely, the play is a call for vigilance that must be maintained.

Simply gorgeous.

One simple "married couple" act becomes a crack in surprisingly thin ice. The monologue is beautifully low-key. The actions described are the opposite of high drama. Yet the simplicity Jenny's motivations raise the stakes astronomically high. She has a need to connect with the person she used to be who is simultaneously always right there and constantly out of reach. Her husband isn't a villain, stereotypical or otherwise. It really isn't about him. It's about the evolution of a person's life and identity, and the cost of love. This would make a tremendous audition piece.

I saw an exquisite virtual production of this at TRU Speak!

I said at the time, if David Cronenberg directed an AfterSchool Special, this would be it! It reminded me of themes in VideoDrome about the link between virtual violence against women as entertainment and violence against women IRL.

The interactive game in GAME BOY is disturbing, especially because similar "games" exist in real life, and a simulation encourages the misogyny. The parental reaction here is spot on, both in its outrage and pragmatism as well as the limits of its effectiveness.

A disturbing and deeply relevant piece.

OY, GEVALT, WHAT A STORY!

Family lore is passed down through generations but it all had to start somewhere. Here, Miller gives us that rare (dare I call it a) miracle of That First Time A Story Is Passed Down!

It's an epic tale of war, of familial traditions struggling to hold their ground in the face of a broader world view that might be welcome ANY OTHER DAY! It escalates spectacularly and culminates, as any great fable does, with an Important Message.

The father/son dynamics are just right. The momentum, flawless. The whole adventure, a mitzvah in disguise!

A delightful tribute to the Great White North! Canada's a vast landscape, but Lermond plants her narrator (and by extension us listeners) in a very specific environment. The writing is so vivid, you feel like you've been visiting the place and know the locals, including some of the wildlife. It's like sitting outside wrapped in a cozy warm blanket on a cool, cloudy day.