Recommended by Scott Sickles

We all hoped Marcie and Peppermint Patty would tie the knot one day. And what a day it turns out to be!

Bleustein-Lyons transforms Marcie, Patty, Sally and Schroder into adults they might actually grow up to be, then thrusts them into a scenario worthy of O. Henry and Feydeau! It all snowballs VERY QUICKLY with great hilarity.

Miraculously, MARRIED doesn't rely on old Peanuts catchphrases and tropes. (Not a single "You Blockhead!" or pulled football.) It's a costume designer's dream and actors will fight over who gets to play who!

You'll want to wrangle an invitation!

Delightfully and mercilessly skewering social media influencers and the trends they endorse, GLASS OF WATER gives us three fun characters on two sides of an Experience that may or may not be a con!

St. James cleverly puts these online celebs in a position where they can't effectively share their experience with their audience (it would look totally mundane on Insta and YouTube) so their IRL reactions are everything. Have they experienced something or are they just saying they have? And if so, have they convinced themselves it's true?

Lots of options, all of which work like gangbusters!

Who says you need a James Bond in a James Bond sendup? The villains are always more fun anyway!

That's certainly the case here in the HQ of Mr. Diabolilcus's evil organization of evil!

From the arch supervillain to the silent ninja-like henchman to the delightful Tweedles Dee and Dum of low-level drones, Busser delights in and delights us with the one thing that elevates Evil Lair spoofery to heavenly heights... ADMIN!!!

Essentially an HR meeting, DR. WU skewers corporate management and procedure with a GALAXY-QUEST-caliber melange of tropes that's a love letter to the genre. I want more!...

Traffic on the Los Angeles freeway is bad enough ANYWAY, but this... smh...

Lam creates a pitch-perfect unflappable Angelino ennui in the face of Yet Another Crisis getting in the way of the morning commute. Freakin' 2020...

The easy rapport masks a modest disingenuousness in the boss/employee dynamic adding pragmatic concerns to the ongoing cataclysm. A perfect piece for actors who don't have to push it to be funny, THIS YEAR has got them covered! Audiences will feel like they're stuck in traffic with them in the BEST way.
And hey things could be worse. Just watch!

THERE WILL BE NO KINK-SHAMING IN THE CONDIMENT AISLE!!!

The anthropomorphizing of PB & Jelly creates a perfect relationship metaphor about a couple at a crossroads, yet the play never forgets they are the sandwiches fillings they are! Gustatory innuendo abounds! It’s impossible not to root for them to come together as the two halves of the sandwich that they are. Yet you hope as they do that it won’t be the same old PB&J.

You can cast from a wide range to create the central couple. The play is as universal as a PB&J’s appeal!

A marvelous mythological (semi-verbal) pantomime inspired by Orpheus but totally its own thing. Only Hero and The Options (talk about a band name!) know what Hero is reacting to, allowing the audience to contextualize the journey with their own joy, sorrow, and amazement. Even though (and perhaps because) The Options are neutral rather than sinister, there’s extra weight and responsibility on Hero’s ultimate choice.

A dream for a choreographer and a full design team, even on a short play festival budget.

A feat of theatrical magic.

To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA (deep breath) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa.........” Or maybe it was Edgar Allan Poe. Whatever! Martin’s minute of concentrated chaos and pervasive panic escalating excruciatingly toward an exit is a perfectly poisonous noxious nightcap to a horrifying year. Thank God it’s over! Or is it...? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA–

(Note: there is no alliteration in the play; I was just in a mood. Blame Steve.)

Damsels in distress are supposed to fall in love with knights in shining armor. It only follows that someone stranded by the pandemic would develop an attachment to the person who risks their life to bring them not only sustenance but the very food they desire… because they, well, ordered it.

DOORDASHED quickly establishes its genre and we know exactly where we want it to go. But damn does McClain make it suspenseful, taking us through 2020 on a menu-driven TARDIS ride! Gently escalating through panic, politics, and loss, DOORDASHED more than earns a huge tip!

I get why Melissa is frustrated with Jo – I do. But Jo is not wrong!

You’ll see what I mean.

Empathy is tricky when one’s experiences are wildly divergent from the person who needs you to understand them. We often find ourselves at a loss and/or trying too hard to relate. Cathro captures the struggle perfectly, at first with a hilarious comic misfire then finally with a hard truth that miraculously builds a bridge by using the chasm itself.

Audiences will instantly relate to these characters even as they have trouble relating to each other!

It's one o'clock. Do you know where your children are?

A vague sense of menace pervades and you can even picture the characters surrounded by a light fog, even though there's no mention of one. This dissipating fog is the recently ended pandemic and the play takes place in that demimonde when things are getting back to normal but aren't quite there yet. Maybe they never will be.

The conversation is jaunty and fun, flying in the face of dread. There are lovely turns and the characters' reactions to events are both slightly off-kilter and deeply resonant.