Recommended by Scott Sickles

The course of true love never does run smoothly especially after you’ve been married forever and there’s still only one damn TV. Fortunately, Lermond has created an antidote for the extramarital celebrity crush that even streaming video can’t outmaneuver. As usual, when the enemy is digital, the best solutions are analog!

Never afraid to plunge into darkness to see if he can find even the smallest bit of light, Swenson dares to create the most elusive of magical, mythical creatures: a republican-senator-who-almost-starts-to-have-the-beginnings-of-a-conscience-maybe. There are chinks in the senator’s armor as the cumulative death toll of the violence his corruption has wrought begins to sink in. Dichotomous to the conversation with his ruthlessly direct wife, Senator Bobby Jenkin’s decent into the madness of decency is grippingly paced and sets up the plays climax beautifully. A masterful piece of political theater.

In one page, Donnelly accomplishes what (the very fine) BOYS OF ST VINCENT does over two movies. The violation of childhood, how it imprints on a soul forever, derails lives, festering until... boom.

The moment of clarity depicted here, even as it wanes back into a fog, is vivid and powerful.

The generalities are so specific, the characterizations so clear, Carbajal has fashioned an indictment of capitalists that plays like a one-page CITIZEN KANE!

Sometimes, the best setting for a Zoom play is a Zoom call. It certainly gives the narrative a home court advantage. Loewenstern uses that advantage to great potential!

I've seen two interpretations of this piece: one dark and brooding, with life and death stakes relying on whether or not a two-person exchange could be considered a "party", and another lighter version where isolation and the need to connect were masked underneath an awkward yet sweet partier-vs-wallflower dynamic. Whether you believe she's a Dionysian goddess or a well-read free spirit, it's a powerful tale with a great heart.

We only get a glimpse of Tina at the beginning but it's enough to not only spark the discussion that follows but to lure us into it. The arguments in the "robot vs alien" debate are both breathtakingly funny and remarkably realistic. It's a delightful cavalcade of logic and sensibility versus oddities just irregular enough to give one pause. The individual roles are masterworks of comic precision and the payoffs are spectacular! Also, BAGELS!!!

There's a tonality in art that heightens life. It sharpens things, making the wit and banter more vivid than the everyday utterances of regular people. Lermond gives her raconteur the best of both states of being, providing a lovely twist/shift for the performer and the audience. It's resoundingly affirming. Remove the artifice and you discover there's nothing quite like the real thing.

Some plays are confections and this is certainly one of them. Which is not to say it's insubstantial. Just because it's sweet, doesn't mean it's frothy. Hunt uses the contrast between the characters and the converging narrative structure, blending the dark and light, the creamy and the airy, to fashion a perfect chocolate mousse of a play... and it couldn't be more delicious and satisfying.

I recommend reading this after a long day. And let it be the last thing you read at the end of that long day. It'll nourish you for a better tomorrow.

A fascinating melange of documentary and ecclesiastical/political afterlife courtroom drama.

One gets the sense that these characters review the facts in the case of the assassination of Pasolini every time this tribunal convenes. They're tired of rehashing it, yet have never been willing or able to reconcile their disparate versions or individual responsibilities. An annual festival of finger-pointing. Even Pasolini is fed up with the ritual and comes armed with unprecedented honesty and accountability.

Cinephiles will love it for illuminating the director's death while audiences will embrace the drama and, ultimately one hopes, Pasolini.

What is a coming of age story than people realizing that the world is not what they were brought up to believe it is? You don't have to be a kid because life's harsh lessons are doled out on a non-stop syllabus. Burdick fashions an illuminating chat allowing a man who doesn't know he's naive -- but to his credit knows his limitations -- to learn from the hard-won lessons of an elder. It's a great intergenerational exchange and leaves a powerful impression on the characters and the audience. It's also terrifically entertaining.