Recommended by Scott Sickles

  • Help *Monologue*
    12 Jan. 2024
    Beautifully intimate and exquisitely detailed. Millions upon millions of people have had the experience of being a caregiver to a loved one with dementia. Floyd-Priskorn shows us what makes Chip's struggle unique to him. These are HIS feelings about losing HIS parent. That specificity, both in the history and the emotionality, gives this piece a profound power.
  • The Brotherhood of the Sloth
    12 Jan. 2024
    As the son of a paranoiac, it was always frustrating when my dad was right about being persecuted. It was one thing when he blamed the neighbors for breaking into the house and hiding his checkbook or blaming the dog for intentionlly pooping where he would walk. But sometimes, it seemed rules and policies existed that excluded only him. For real! It was a literal curse.

    So I see where David is coming from. Poor guy. Sometimes a dose of reality can help. Sometimes…

    Enjoy!
  • Beatrice
    12 Jan. 2024
    Much like dipping a Reese’s Mini Cup into chocolate fondue, BEATRICE is a perfectly delicious hybrid of something that is mass produced and something that is lovingly homemade. The way Mandryk takes the familiar, from circumtances and backstory to individual lines you could say before the character does, then turns it all on its fleshy fleshy head… marvelous! Perfect for Halloween festivals but really ANY festival!
  • A Cause for Concern
    12 Jan. 2024
    As someone with a legit beef against the Salvation Army which has its own deeply dark side, I reveled in this razor sharp and deathy deadpan satire! As always, Madryk’s broad strokes are make wickedly beatiful by a perfectly placed plethora of detail. The earnestness of both characters, one an innocent, the other a corruptor, only heightens the hilarity. If only organizations were this honest in real life. Fortunately, political candiates are! No really! Read this, you’ll see what I mean…
  • Din Din
    12 Jan. 2024
    See, this is why we don’t and frankly should not have narrators in real life.

    This instantly off-kilter amuse bouche takes the most quotidan task and slowly, sublimley, turns it into an eerie tale of comic horror. Mandryk’s mastery of detail is spot-on as ever, with a pinch of “wait” then a dash of “oh no…” The finish is delectable.

    Disembodies voices are not always on your side. Beware of them.
  • I Don't DO Holidays
    2 Jan. 2024
    Full disclosure: I'm totally #TeamVeruth.

    Clearly inspired by a certain folk horror movie which many regard as genius (I'm sure they're all #TeamPiotr) and others like me view as a masterpiece of unitentional comedy, Prillaman turns the central event (and delicious details) of that story into an purposely hilarious domestic comedy!

    The dialogue is stifled to perfection, The characters are divinely deadpan, evoking Scandinavian pathos to a poetically absurd degree. There's also a cavalcade of WTF moments that must be experienced to be believed!

    A glorious wild ride in the midnight midsummer holiday sun! Sacrifice be damned!
  • 3rd Degree Tiresias
    2 Jan. 2024
    An absolute joy to read aloud! And what a treat it will be to see it performed by a real actor with real sound effects!

    Writing in mellifluously modern vernacular, Loewenstern takes the mythological blind prophet's backstory and turns it into a matter of extreme urgency for Zeus and Hera. HIs Tiresias is as wise as they are anxious (and who wouldn't be with inquisitors form Olympus?), as reverent as they are sassy, and above all as dignified as they can and should be. The deities themselves are hilarious offstages icons of self-absorption. Again, a delight all around!
  • The Adventures of Pat the Exterminator: Season's Meetings
    19 Dec. 2023
    So THAT'S how he does it!!!

    The best Santa origin story ever (that doesn't involve David Harbour taking his shirt off, but that's more my territory anyway) and who better to set the future Father Christmas to his merry eternal task than our hero Pat the Exterminator. We also get a bit of backstory with him too!

    A fun and fast paced holiday confection!
  • The Melatonin Miners
    12 Dec. 2023
    A delightful holiday can't-sleep-at-sleepytime confection with great celebrity cameos thanks to every insomniac's friend melatonin! It's as though something asked Steve's brain the "what three people dead or alive would you want to have dinner with" and his brain came up with a great answer! You'll fall back to sleep with a big silly grin.
  • If at First
    27 Nov. 2023
    What are morality and sanity when it comes to finding true love?

    OBSTACLES! THEY ARE OBSTACLES THAT MUST BE CONQUERED OR CIRCUMVENTED! THAT’S WHAT!!!

    Sorry, did you think I was being rhetorical? Well… that’s on you.

    Mad Genius Greg Mandryk (hereafter “MGGM”!) confronts this complex theme by fashioning a very simple scenario. OR IS IT??? Regardless, the course of true love comes with alleyways and tributaries and oftentimes staunch resistance it’s impossible not to take personally.

    Now, I’ve said enough relevant nothing to express my overwhelming enjoyment of this wild, wonderful something! Brace yourself! Hail MGGM!!!

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