Recommended by Scott Sickles

There’s nothing like the early crushes. The long ago infatuations. The details you that bridge the distance of time and keep your heart afloat. Williams has gifted us with a lovely nostalgia piece that also dares to go places that sometimes even memory doesn’t like to admit to. But there is love and kinship and a spark and regret, all of which are even easier to remember than some of those details.

It’s situations like this that make me lose hope. That convince me the battle for decency is lost. Because I live in a bubble, it never fully sinks in that there are parents who WANT these things for their kids. Of course, from her POV it’s out of necessity. She wants her kid to protect themselves and if necessary, fight back in kind.

The only hope here is the kid doesn’t want it. And that’s what I’ll cling to.

Syran has fashioned a powerful dissection of the American maternal psyche in untenable times.

You want the truth? YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!! And the truth is… this light-dark-funny-creepy tale is INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS!!!

It’s fun even if you don’t know that but so much better if you do.

You’re welcome.

Haas instantly conjures a horror comedy atmosphere with persistent sound effects and two teens with diametrically opposite temperaments. The reveal of Who or What is Outside should lower the tension… but it doesn’t!!!

Great roles for young actors.

Now drop everything and run a Google Image Search on “tumbleweed invasion Texas.” You will be amazed!

Unmitigatedly sexy. (And I have a severe smoking phobia, so that oughtta tell you how fucking sexy this is.) This anthropomorphization of an apex predator is as fierce and bold as the tiger itself. Real tigers may not understand the benefits of their captivity; Soucy asserts they wouldn't care if they did. They are creatures that value freedom even if it comes with danger and uncertainty. Hell, maybe they'll get to eat a poacher! After they play with their food a while... This tiger is done with you, it's just letting you know that!

The trouble with being a powerful bloodthirsty creature of the night living in disguise as an adorably cuddly inanimate object is that sometimes you have to endure outrageous fortune until availed of the opportunity to discreetly take action. Indeed, our plush ursine protagonist has been carried off into some amazing adventures, but never one more otherworldly than this. Sometimes, it's the main character's job to bear witness (no pun intended) and here there is much to observe. Richly atmospheric (you can practically smell the air), a rollicking adventure becomes unexpectedly poignant. A lovely addition for Bear Lore!

There’s a point in this play when you realize what it all means. “Oh no…” you might say to yourself. But it’s too late… what comes next is as inevitable for you as it is for the characters and there’s nothing you can do about it. Unlike those characters, though… you won’t want it to stop.

Baughfman vividly evokes the seediest of settings and fills it with an ambience of isolation, then populates it with deeply human demons, relentless suspense, macabre humor, and great splatter.

Check out the excellent audio version on Gather by the Ghostlight!

In an ideal world, friendship is unconditional. But the world is not ideal and when you're a teenager who needs -- not wants, but *needs* -- your friends around you through a difficult time and they don't show up... you might be tempted to count the days. And the weeks.

Quietly searing and staunchly unsentimental, 7 WEEKS, 3 DAYS captures the high emotional stakes of adolescence when they're no match for an even bigger reality. Given equal voice the the deserted and the deserter, it's a touching portrait of friendship at a crossroads requiring untapped reserves of mutual bravery.

Hilarious and adorable response to a harrowing circumstance. Norkin pulls no punches as he relentlessly tickles our funny bones indicting fascism while extolling the virtues of knowledge. A sharp satire with fun roles for actors in a wide range of ages.

A perfect template, not just of the rom-com, but love stories in general, especially those rooted in the unrequited. It’s a variation on a trend that respectfully reflects its foundations. Concise, funny, exactly like everything in the genre you’ve ever seen and utterly individual.

We see it all the time in sci-fi: an alien being declaring “I am The Last of My Kind!” On Earth, in the animal kingdom, such creatures are known as endlings. When, just before a species reaches extinction, there’s only one left.

Blevins walks a seemingly impossible tightrope between adorable talking animals and the profound loneliness of being the last one, surrounded by other last ones. Not everyone is taking this lying down! But there’s a resonant sorrow (in some extraordinarily beautiful speeches) pervading the picnic.

I didn’t know “endlings” before.
Now I’ll never forget.