Recommended by Scott Sickles

A fun puzzle of a play about time loops, marital ruts, and crazy theories that may or may not be true! All three characters are eminently playable and entertaining for actors and audiences. The fun will be in the staging, keeping the pace with the crazy light cues and craziness in general. This fun play about times loops, marriage, and reading the wrong books about the repetition of life gives us three characters as fun to play as they are to watch. Festivals will ave a great time staging this time loop marriage sci-fi comedy that audiences and…

There are a lot of ways to go with a Persephone/Demeter reunion (but not exactly them…). Marchant takes the mythological and plants it right in the ground, allowing it to germinate in its own time. Mother and daughter each have a yearning and a distance to bridge and, regardless of the bond of love they share, they do not meet each other’s needs. The reader feels like one is in the room with them – a feeling I imagine is only stronger on stage. The final line… and the the final moment… stunners.

As a multiracial Korean American who was forced to take Taekwon-Do from the ages of 8 to around 16, I thought I knew what I was in for with this monologue. Not even close! Which was a happy surprise.

Soucy’s story is not entirely a happy one, and I related to the bullying and the sense of unbelonging. But there’s a strong sense of heritage and community here, even though that community is, in this story, quite small. In this nucleus of dignity, powerful lessons are learned and kept. I feel like I learned them as well.

God, I hope this is not a memoir!

What the speaker learns at a very young age is both deeply sad and absolutely useful knowledge for later.

Equal parts nostalgia and poison, this glorious memory piece evokes a bygone era of innocent games where we pretend to be grown-ups… and then start acting like them. There’s an underlying resilience in her voice and the last line is a kicker.

Aphrodite and Venus are SO ARCH their names may as well be Gothic and Romanesque! (And ultimately, saucy their names may as well be Tzatziki and Arabbiata!)

I love Cross’s THE PANTHEON WARS and I don’t know how this one escaped me for so long. Escape happens to a major theme here. Will they or won’t they? Who’s trapping whom? I wasn’t sure where this was going to go but it’s one page, so I didn’t have to wait long for it to arrive at its delicious conclusion!

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT???

A Vocal Few: Get a room, why don’t you?

Narrator: They did not get a room.

AVF: They surrender! We win!

Narrator: Instead, Steve and Mathew got two rooms.

AVF: Two rooms? We’ve separated them! Success!!!

Narrator: Two theaters, in fact.

AVF: What?!? Why?!? Still not sexy…

Narrator: Theaters connected by their minds and souls, where they could celebrate and inspire one another as playwrights and friends.

AVF: Boring! Pretentious! I hate this form of direct address.

Narrator: It was a perfect birthday gift-

AVF: SCHMALTZ!!!

Narrator: Worthy of Scott Sickles’s 1000th Recommendation.

AVF: Who?

FIN

One-minute plays are essentially snapshots. Their job is to capture a moment. Weaver’s moment is lovely. Father/son bonding can be tricky with expectations of masculinity and strength. Here there is support and understanding, with just enough of an intergenerational difference in attitude to keep it real – a sorting of emotional honesty in the eye of an ephemeral distraction. Heartfelt without being schmaltzy, and resonantly elegant. In sixty seconds.

Be it laughably large lovers or evil overlords and their henchfolk, when snapping turtle of spoofery John Busser clamps down on a movie trope, he does not let go!

This time, Busser sends up the Masked Slasher and his Slutty Victims! It’s great to see these archetypal teens throw each other under the bus (or into the blade) with gloriously artless shaming. You need a scorecard to keep up like the killer needs an extension cord! The confrontation between predator and prey is priceless, and the ending is a scream!

Men. Amirite? Regardless of socioeconomic status, the presence or absence of love, one’s education or opportunities, society does not teach men what to do with their rage. So they improvise.

Taube’s tight, intense experimental piece has the grim atmosphere of Kafka and the streetwise brutality of Scorsese. The play is a gift for male-identifying actors, especially one who is small but tough, not to mention directors, lighting and sound designers, and fight choreographers. It would be a helluva thing to see staged. Visceral, raw, and deceptively sophisticated on many levels.

How many of us have had to have this exact conversation?!? [I know you’re out there and I know why you can’t say… ;-)]

Every couple keeps secrets in each member of a couple has a secret to keep. Sometimes, outside influences bring these out into the open. Even if you figure out what Tammi’s issue is, there are plenty of surprises in store. Cathro’s twosome possesses buoyant charm and a sexy sweetness. We root for them throughout and the payoff is perfect. YUH-HUH!