Recommended by Lee R. Lawing

My Mother the Car for the millennials. Hageman’s play simmers with positivity and lessons on how to listen to one’s heart, while also giving a small ear to those who’ve paved the road before you.

Believing in heaven is one way to deal with grief and loss. Another is to read O’Grady’s haunting “Persephone” which offers hope in its own right. I’ve not seen a ghost story this charming since The Ghost and Mrs Muir and it has one of the best last lines I’ve ever read.

This year I have been trying hard to zone in on the moments I write about and get rid of the excess and it's plays like Smoke Break that really teach me how to do that perfectly. Peercy's perfect little moment has a lot of punch and I am intrigued by these two men as much as I am drawn into their crazy world in just those brief seconds.

A little brilliant absurdist theater by August and such a joy to read. From the title to the action, I was hooked and enjoyed every second of it. I feel so many days like Eleanor but at work I sometimes feel like the clerk and so enjoyed taking a break and reading such a funny and wild play. Will enjoy discovering other works by August for sure.

I have missed reading Wyndham's work very much. Every turn is a surprise and this beautifully executed monologue is no different. What an emotional journey this is for the reader and lucky actor who gets to perform these perfect words. Wyndham has the knack of creating those characters that are so real and this guy is no different and my heart hopes that he finds that love that he wants! Perfect ending. Perfect journey. Thank you for another gem!

An intense play that tears at one's heart and soul. The unknown pain and suffering of each person we meet is just sometimes overwhelming to think about, and Masha is no different in that she has such pain, but what she decides to do with it is simply devastating. You can understand why this has won awards!

Timely and so thrilling and a play that will stick with me for some time. Bublitz holds nothing back in this ten minute thrill ride. The thought of sacrificing yourself for a cause is as heartbreaking as it is terrifying and the terror built and built in this play that inspired me as a writer of what might be possible on the stage.

I had no idea what this play was about when I started it and I am so glad I didn’t. It left me breathless in the that best possible way. What Sickles accomplishes in this masterful tale would take eighty-eight recommendation fields to come close to feeling I have said all I can say with all the things this play does right. And I am left with a hunger to read Parts Two and Three. Masterclass delivered!

Wow! When a play hits you hard on so many levels that it leaves you thoughtless and shaken inside with such respect for the masterful writing and story, that is how The Actors hits me. I knew this one would speak to me on a personal level with my Dad gone and missing him, so I knew it would resonate with me, but the fact that I want to run out and ask every theater to produce this play and add it to their season is really what I want to get across in the end with my recommendation. LOVE!

Donnelly's play Tis True, Ma shows us just how much we still have to fight and make the world a better and safer place for everyone. So much has changed in the past 50 years for gay rights and lives, but the sad fact is that there's so many people like Mrs. O'Connor who are out there who need to change and sadly not all of them are 92 years old. The poetry of Donnelly's piece is the emotions it pulls from anger and frustration to love and hope and those I feel will be stronger in the end