Recommended by Scott Sickles

In context, Bobby is a fictional character talking to the author who created him. But as we all know, characters take on lives of their own. And some don't like being left behind. Bobby is one of those characters, calling out his creator - not in a creepy horror movie way, but with a directness of a friend who knows you, who you've learned and relied on, who knows your importance to each other. Which is why it works out of context as well.

Bobby seems terrific. It's too bad he's fictional – in and out of context.

The thing folklore forgets about its animal familiars is that they're, well, animals. While they have a soul connection to their humans, they are still who they are. Prillaman refuses to anthropomorphize Nora's avian advisor Ralphio, bit that doesn't prevent Ralphio from being vividly expressive. In fact, Ralphio is often significantly clearer than Nora!

The romantic stakes are high for our socially awkward maiden and her songbird Cyrano as she builds up to wooing the beautiful Patrick, enduring conversational and situational challenges throughout. Hilarity ensues. One can't help but root for them... Or just hope for the best.

Unspeakably beautiful.

Rarely has an account of loss been told with such grace and simplicity. There are no histrionics, no keening or screaming into the void. There is only what is. Hard, sad truths. Dignity and kindness. So much love. So very much.

Take your time with this one. Savor it, like a good chilled wine or yesterday’s risotto after the flavor has settled in. Like the time you should have spent but didn’t. Spend it now, slowly. You won’t regret it. Quite the opposite.

When someone says no to tacos, you take them seriously. That may seem glib when you read the play, but I know whereof I speak. The denial of joy is a very bad sign.

David is trapped inside his body, able to communicate with electronic assistance but without inflection. His anger and sorrow are neutralized, then denied and exacerbated by parents who mean well yet are oblivious to their unintended cruelty.

David’s is a subtly volcanic cry for help. His anguish is made harrowing by his stillness. He could do with a little rain.

This is the story of a man who has conversationally and romantically hit rock bottom… and then started to dig.

It’s truly astounding how Barber keeps feeding his protagonist progressively worse things to say! As ghastly as it is funny, this monologue is a glorious descent into the mindless mind of one of the worst boyfriends ever!

ACTORS! AUDITION WITH THIS!!! You’ll get the laughs and probably the part!

The thing about gilded cages: they’re still cages. While someone may seem well-off with an upper class life plagued with first world problems, if we look a little deeper you will find people like Heather. Trapped by controlling family, her freedom further leveraged by the need to protect others even more vulnerable. Her trepidation is palpable and it’s hard to to root for her to find the courage to triumph by any means necessary.

As the old saying goes, it’s the journey not the destination. Sometimes, we get turned around on that journey due to a confluence of mischief and unfamiliarity. With any luck, there’ll be someone to give us directions.

Rick and Dermot are fun foils, though as charming as Irishman Dermot is, because I’m me I really identified with uptight American Rick’s frustrations. Fortunately, Dermot’s a good-natured soul and Rick isn’t so bad himself really. Spend a few minutes with these two. You’ll be pleased you did.

Searing! A simple and beautiful portrait of childhood juxtaposed with the tragic poetry of when that childhood is cut short. Not *after* it's cut short, not really – but the moment it happens. O'Grady manifests this boy's lost future with the man he will now never be. Whether that life ended a moment or a year or years ago, the consequences of that act of violence, one of many that day in Uvalde, are eternal. Limitless possibilities are torn asunder.

A lovely eulogy to an icon by a stranger.

If we're lucky, we have an artist or artists who are everpresent, bookmarking our lives, and for those who are exceptionally lucky, it's Sondheim.

Medlin's tribute is heartfelt but not sentimental, intimate and universal.

I have long suspected... nay, *insisted* that Delaware is a made-up place. There is no convincing me otherwise. And this plaY cements that belief!

I cannot see how it's possible for the chicken-to-human ratio to be that extraordinarily out of whack! But for the sake of great theater, I willingly suspend my disbelief and embrace it – almost as much as I embrace these delightful characters and their respective commitment to chicken rights and bad puns. Their wacky idealism and unquestioning camaraderie are delicious as a perfect chicken tender!

It makes me wish that these characters and Delaware were real.