Recommended by Scott Sickles

Miller packs a lifetime of love in these tiny vignettes. The initial nostalgia provides the foundation for a deeply moving dual life story. The couple is appealing at every age. Their passions for music parallel their passion for each other in delicately warm ways. Easy to produce, so long as the quick changes are truly fast, fun to perform, and a joy to behold. There’s more than a metaphorical circle of life here and audiences will enjoy the ride.

How I love a good tale of Science Gone Wrong! And oh… oh, how wrong it has gone!!!

The breakneck zaniness of this piece more than lives up to its title! From the character names to the lingering sense that Something Is Not Quite Right to the cascading revelations about How Bad Things Really Are, PANIC is totally over the top and stunningly precise, as all great broad comedy must be.

The characters themselves are a joy: perfectly individuated by language as evervescent as mysterious bubbles in a haywire lab experiement! A wonderful sendup with twists and turns galore!

The yearning for life! The validation of desire! The thrill of control It’s all here and then some!

Foster packs a lot into a tight ten pages. The archness of the language fells mythical and timeless. Every character has strong motives regarding at least one other, and their crosspurposes form a tapestry both devious and divine.

THE COMPANION feels like a thrill ride through purgatory, even though we haven’t quite reached that destination. Intricately plotted and beautiflly rendered, this is a treat for designers, actors, and a director with imagination!

This Terms-of-Endearment-inspired tearjerker flips a major expectation. “Terms” succeeds because parents aren’t expected to outlive their children. One of many reasons “Heart” works is because parents of autistic children frequently do.

Osmundsen creates uncompromisingly realistic characters. Mary-Ellen embodies the “look at me” special needs mother, both indicting and celebrating her complex humanity, down to the chapter titles. Her autisic son Zachary is trapped between her devotion and living his own narrative. It’s a titanic struggle that shocks and ultimately elates.

The supporting characters are complex and true (you will adore Ben!), completing this heartfelt, quite heartfelt landscape. Bravo!

As someone who can’t turn their brain off at bedtime, I totally relate to the wife. Perhaps I’m paranoid but I find the husband’s ability to drop right off to be suspect! I’m hoping the wife leaves the trash until morning. There must be no escape!

“If you get a story out of it, you win.”
That a personal credo of mine.

Joe Swenson has won a sweepstakes!

Recounting his seven-year abduction between the ages of 5 and 12, this highly theatricalized memoir is gripping, terrifying, complex, and heartbreaking. It's a journey of strength and miraculous forgiveness.

Most scenes are between Joey and his Imaginary Friend, a familiar trope used uniquely and brilliantly. Neither conjured nor omniscient, it's our window into this hell, blindsided and powerless as we are.

The scenes are succinct and complex as life itself.

It's an essential masterwork.

A five-minute masterpiece!!!

A deft verbal pantomime becomes a mashup of Machiavelli, Alan Bennett, and Feydeau. And yes, it’s all about the sock… Until it’s not about the sock at all!!!

Perfectly paced, surprisingly complex, consistently yet increasingly hilarious! Bravo!

Just lovely. It's not easy to incorporate foreshadowing in a one-minute play, but Coke makes it seem effortless. The payoffs (multiple) are perfect. Warning: this play will make you hungry well before it's over.

No shame here but if there had been, it would have been totally worth it! A lovely, tiny homage to a rom-com classic, specifically the moment we all hope to experience. Cole gives us the savory lingering aftermath of that moment, which is an event unto itself. A big smile on one page!

CELL-JENNY delivers a powerful punch with a light touch.

Gender nonconforming people are bullied mercilessly by strangers. How much is someone supposed to take when that bullying happens at home... every single day... for decades! Anyone might snap.

In Laurence, Smith creates a deeply complex human: an explorer of his own identity who finds liberation in women's clothes. (Gender-specificity is deeply important here; there's no point in cross-dressing in gender neutral clothes.) His feminine persona is freer, braver, happier... and his wife is none too pleased.

Atmospheric, suspenseful, and unforgettable!