Recommended by Scott Sickles

Agonizingly real and truthful. The dialogue plays like beautifully discordant jazz with its sharp staccato utterances leading us toward and away from the longer but still difficult expressions of truth. The characters are people you either know or have been at one point in your life. Their pain and longing is as real as the love they once had for each other. Lynett expertly covers tremendous ground in a short period of time thanks to the very active exposition. Every word, declaration, and silence is important and pressurized. A great piece that brands the heart!

In reading and reviewing THREE BOYS ON THE BEACH, the LGBT version, my perception of this story as a gay reader was slightly but significantly different. Namely, that was a wish fulfillment story I could relate to more than I could this.

But no matter one's perspective, the characters' wishes remain the same: one succumbs to a questionable impulse, another is introduced to mutual attraction a little early, and the third gets to watch from the sidelines. There's a deep ache to the ironically named Lucky. Everything has changed. That small but significant loss resonates hard.

Another indelible exhibit in the Matthew Weaver Museum of Forbidden Kisses.

In changing the gender of one character in Two Boys on the Beach and NOTHING ELSE (not even their name), this portrait of a day at the beach takes on a significantly different impact, depending on the reader.

Either way, there's an unsettling predatory sensation both heightened and tamed by innocence, exploration and longing. As the boys' parents, I'd be furious. But in this iteration... I kind of wish I had been one of these boys and am resigned that I'm the other. Complicated, beautifully observed, and lovely....

If families would only listen to each other, put each other's needs first, stop talking over and trying to outmaneuver one another for their own selfish desires and whims... Life would be a lot less interesting and we wouldn't have wonderful plays like this! The eternal mother/daughter conflict wages on with great truth, love and humor. It's the kind of play that makes you close your eyes, pinch the bridge of your nose and rub your temples ALL AT THE SAME TIME because you know and have been at least one of these people. It's also really funny!

I don't want to spoil anything about this sweet nonpareil of a play. I will say it's a tiny treatise on perspective, optimism, and perseverance. A delightful piece for two young actresses.

To make even a short speech using only words beginning with the same letter is a helluva trick. But this??? This is highly alliterative, concise and profound feminist beat poetry! A tiny tour de force for a female actor! Bravo and bravado!

A perfect cacophony of disparate perspectives on the brink of convergence! While some crave the battle, others ponder the meaning of it all, while still others just want to do their best. A beautiful metaphor and and even better anthropomorphizing of the seven-ten split!

A powerful indictment about how bigotry infects the fight for justice. Davis masterfully reveals the stakes, from the incident that started a righteous battle to how something seemingly unrelated can burn it all down. It turns out the inability to listen is a two way street between idealism and pragmatism. The play also succeeds in depicting how history casts aside some people in choosing others to carry the fight and the truth. Tremendous complex yet told with utter simplicity. Great roles for an older male and a younger female Black actor.

BEEN THERE!!!
In what I'm sure is less than sixty seconds, Tristen Canfield captures a perfect snapshot of toxicity. Whether it's a friendship or a romance, if you recognize yourself as Fiddle, get away from Player! I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME serves as a cautionary tale AND a PSA, as well as a terrific short play! Do not let this happen to you!

Nothing, not even the title, can prepare you for this. SNOWMAN OF VENGEANCE plays like the love child of every Christmas special and Charles Bronson movie from the 70s. Alternately adorable and horrific, disturbing and idyllic, it's the psycho holiday fare your ten-minute play festival needs no matter what time of year it is.