Recommended by Scott Sickles

What a lovely play! A paean to the deep and abiding affections that begin when we’re young and that will, with faith and a brutally compatible combination of wit and rapport, endure. There are a couple of well crafted surprises that are just joyful. I feel better now than I did five minutes ago thanks to this play. No kidding!

Weaponized lightness. That’s what Strayer uses here. There’s a matter-of-factness accompanied by the glib festiveness one takes on when looking through a photo album. Why shouldn’t the speaker in the monologue be glib and matter of fact? She’s an adult now and spending family occasions together and documenting them in photographs is normal for most people, just like spending and documenting those occasions with her rapist in the photo is normal for her. So what defense does she have? She has her tone. Her memory. What she survived and that she survived it. Brave, staggering work!

I was reading an article about preventing the spread of coronavirus, and one of the questions it addressed was “should I stop dating?” Fortunately, Philip Middleton Williams has a workaround for such pandemic-inspired concerns. Equal parts realistic and romantic, Viral Love offers grounded hope for those venturing forth into the darkness with light in their hearts.

Even if you figure out where it’s heading, there’s no getting off the ride!!! (No puns intended. Seriously! More than ever!) A delightful play about entering one’s “gay adolescence” and putting yourself out there. It’s always awkward, some times more than others. Truly delightful roles for an intergenerational cast. A daring, funny, wonderfully honest piece. (I’m angry at myself for not thinking of the premise!)

In politics, democracy, and love, sometimes the best choices available are not exactly ideal. But that doesn’t mean they’re not good options; one just has to compromise. When there are two people involved, one generally has to compromise more than the other and halfway isn’t exactly the middle of the spectrum.

NOMINATION is a terrific short piece about women making the most intimate personal decisions while standing literally on the National Stage! Their choices are situational but sincere, heartfelt and pragmatic, ephemeral and life-altering. Great roles for female-identifying actors and the writing is beautifully detailed.

With the intimacy of a journal entry and the righteous umbrage of Medea, Deray spews forth a romantic indictment for the ages... AND the age differences!!! A hard-won, hard-given trust has been breeched by Someone Who Should Have Known Better but took the coward's way out! (Breakup by text!!!) As the speaker unleashes his pain and vulnerability, he not only justly ascends a moral high ground but also dons the emotional armor he'll need to survive the defeat and betrayal he's enduring as he speaks. The joy for the audience is seeing him grow up before our eyes.

Just what the world needed... ANOTHER deeply personal, searingly intimate, occasionally hilarious, brutally truthful, absolutely wonderful meditation on love, parenthood, family, marriage, and the labyrinthine interconnections between human beings, paradoxically and simultaneously invulnerable and fragile, that bind us through time, distance, generations, agony, and bliss both present and absent. ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE!!!

This time with Shakespeare!

The play bravely explores and explodes the myths of insta-bonding between parents and their children (and children and their parents), opening wounds of fear, panic, desertion, shame, and the weaknesses we inherit from our upbringing, all in a loving embrace of hope.

A purely delightful page-and-a-half that is both nostalgic and hopeful. It celebrates a practice gone by (the phone book) and emerges as the beginning of a new story built on loving foundations of personal history. Once again, Matthew Weaver makes your heart feel all toasty warm... like a good calzone.

I saw this at Otherworld Theater's Paragon Festival and O, what a joy and delight it is! Sir Theo is the personification of every adventure-hungry nerd ever and the Swamp Boy, while reminiscent of Sigmund of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, is a kindred outcast all his own. One never questions the reality of Teddy's discovery because why wouldn't it be real when it so clearly should and must be. Terrific roles for young kids. Utterly hilarious and heartwarming. Long live, Sir Theo! May you and the Swamp Boy never grow up! (I want a sequel!)

My Valentine’s Day present to myself was this play. So often, especially when he writes about love and longing, Matthew Weaver is a valentine in and of himself. Here he gets an audience with the goddess of love who, fittingly, has deemed our intrepid romantic worthy. They discuss, concisely and wittily, the complex iniquities of love and romance. Without a shred of self-pity, Weaver fights a battle between resignation and courage that sparks bravery in the most romantically introverted reader. It’s roadmap of love with unmarked detours, no guarantees, and potentially great rewards, maybe. A divine gem.