Recommended by Lee R. Lawing

Grief can be so overwhelming and I can't begin to understand how it would be for any father or mother to lose their child so early. Hosking's play speaks so loudly about salvation and hope, that when you finish reading this you want to stand up and cheer these people on for finding a new way to move past the reality of their pain and sorrow and realizing to treat every day as a gift from the universe that still understands that a person's imagination can grasp things and ideas that the inner soul cannot.

It's always a delight to read Carnes no matter the story or genre and this tale is no different. Every play shows why she's one of the best out there!

How heartbreaking is this play. It tears at one's soul with such ferocity. Why can't we just live in our imaginations and let the world pass us by. This Almost Joy does such a great job of playing against the real and not real and Professor Hart-Meadows is a character to remember and this is one play that should be seen by everyone. At least read. Your heart will mend in time after reading this small poetic masterpiece.

There's poetry in Danley's "Kings of the World" that has such a hypnotic effect while reading it that I'm sure would translate to the stage with the same quiet force. Plus, it's so funny which doesn't hurt at all. I love that music can move the world as much as Danley's words have moved me.

Funny and engaging and so urgent in its action! Great one minute play.

The path to love is often a strange one and sometimes angst-ridden, but there are those paths which just seem to magically happen and bingo, you're there in that very sweet spot with another person who loves the same. Gilman's "Always" paints such a beautiful ode to that sweep spot. With the highs, unfortunately comes the lows and David's path becomes bumpier after Sam's death because grief is never magical or sweet-laden except with those memories that are still a part of us and help us move onward to a different place of calm.

What a charming and funny play. And it takes on so much more meaning now in the new normal of confinement and self-quarantine with Cat and Fish making their own rules of the game as they watch the world around them. I can see why this won the Audience Favorite at the festival. It's become one of mine.

A funny twists on the adultery theme and one that would be so much fun to see as it was to read. Breezy and packs a punch!

Ah, hummingbirds and our secret obsession with them, even as I sit and watch the ones starting to feed at the feeder just outside my kitchen window. I feel so much for Paul's desire to attract them to his feeder and mix. And that speaks volumes about most things in our day to day lives be you artist, musician, businessperson or . . . . writer. The desire for success wells inside and the desire to do some small good wells inside and we all hope that the hummers will find a little nectar from our every changing mix.

There is that saying that a person dies twice. Once when they physically die and then that second time when the last person says or speaks their name. Grief is such a powerful demon that it can sweep in and take over, but sometimes, it can wake you up in a way that is good and all powerful. Rose's monologue strikes a balance between Frankie's loss and the hope that Dennis will never be forgotten and with this powerful monologue he will not be.