Recommended by Scott Sickles

When reading a monologue, the first question on my mind is “who is this person talking to and why?” Especially when that monologue is or includes a reminiscence.

MARACAIBO MAD is the best kind reminiscence: one where atmosphere and immediacy pressurize what must be said to those who must hear it. Syran tells an intimate, human story, filled with personal and global history. She putr you right in the thick of it and for 8 minutes you are watching encroaching storms in Venezuela. Her privilege means nothing. Her time has run out. There is no escape.

In this delicate and powerful short, Dzuback fashions a concise examination of the online bravado that accompanies willful ignorance vs familial bonds. One feels Phineas’s isolation as one by one his relatives spew misinformation online then greet him with smiles (that they probably think are sincere), even though they don’t respect his choices to remain and keep them safe.

The play refuses to sermonize, instead allowing Phineas’s feelings of loss to speak for himself and so many others.

This is one of those conversations I wish was happening 1) in real life and 2) right next to me. A delightful contretemps that's funny with just a touch of social commentary about idiotic male entitlement and confusion over the word "no." The pace and rhythm are splendid. Actors will have a great time with this and audiences will bliss out.

In 60 seconds, Jackie Martin sums up so much of what is wrong with academia, American, and American academia. We have become a society that's allergic to consequence, where privilege inures people from accountability. The play is fast and funny, yet painful in its surgical rendering of the truth. Bravo!

Just when everything was going so well...

Dating is a nightmare. Families are complicated. Not to mention dating is complicated and families are a nightmare, and this is when all pistons are firing on both departments!

Solomonson captures contemporary dating for grownups with great truth and accuracy. It's like you're in the room with them eavesdropping. The characters are beautifully rendered and you can't help but root for, or at least understand, everybody.

And for the record: Rod is definitely a catch!
And ladies... he's single!

In the annals of theatrical docudrama, this may go down as one of the most concise yet thorough vivisections of the human soul. A sixty second tsunami of truth that floods the landscape of romantic expectation leaving what was long barren, finally fecund once more!

It's almost -- almost! -- The Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance Christmas Special! Weaver has created a semi-absurdist Christmas classic about marriage and romance long after the nest is supposed to have emptied out. He captures the sheer joy of having your life together back at long long last only to have that ecstasy threatened by the presence of someone you love, who loves you, who wants to be (dear God) helpful. A celebration of family in which absence makes the heart grow fonder for everybody!

Matthew goes Meta! And he keeps the kissin semi-hidden! A delightful play on PDA, personal shyness, the questionability of the notion of intimate privacy in an ever more panoptic society, and the negotiation of making out. It's a great big theatrical smooch!

A perfect comedy about the influence of culture on a non-toxic but emotionally vulnerable fandom... and the people who love them.

Cathro piles on situational and emotional complexities, infusing a ridiculous yet delicate situation with realism, heart, and devout geekdom. Hilarious, romantic, awkward, and very sexy – in turns and all at once – this is the work of a true scoundrel/ Jedi master!

It starts out as The Best Hammer Film That Hammer Films Never Staged and evolves into so much more! The plot thickens into a diamond, brilliant and infinitely reflecting within itself.

I love mad scientist lore and science fiction and horror and mythology, and Soucy delivers all of it in a progressive dinner of well crafted tropes, delicious characters, acrobatic twists, mordant humor, and imagery both elegantly lurid and luridly elegant.

My brain kept formulating two budgets (ideal vs realistic) while imagining how to stage this steampunk tsunami. Directors and designers, bravely go forth!
Your time is now!