Recommended by Dominica Plummer

Hayley St. James' short satire on social influencers is picture perfect as Opal and Rodrigo get invites to sample a magic water—sorry, Miracul'eau—for the bargain price of $300 and the opportunity to brag about it on social media. Great characters, lovely one liners, and images that burn. Nice!

The Known Universe is the final part of Scott Sickles' brilliant Second World Trilogy, and if you've read the first two parts, you'll love the way Sickles concludes Teddy and Anzor's story. It's a sad ending, as this extraordinary family has to confront an apocalyptic situation in a world once threatened by global warning, and which is now on the brink of another Ice Age. But the strength of Teddy and Anzor's love for one another and their family is center stage in this drama, and reminds us that even in the most desperate of situations, love conquers all.

Pudding is a precisely choreographed elegy for a parent's passing. One sister's way of coping is to jettison the past and replace it with a check. The other, Claudette, makes vanilla pudding. I love the way Steve Martin has detailed every moment and made it oh so much more meaningful than a packet of instant mix and some milk. Read this with your favorite comfort food at the ready, and some Kleenex. Then produce it!

Hilary Bluestein-Lyons' short comedy is much more than "just a sandwich." If you've ever wondered what happens (and could happen) between two slices of bread, then you're in for a treat! From relationship blahs and being "mis-categorized" to epiphanies on how to make their connection a bit spicier, PB and J work through their stuff with love, patience and a lot of humor. Recommended!

Larry Rinkel sums up the playwright's life perfectly in this wry reflection on who we are and why we write. The main character in My Life Has Been A Preparation is instantly recognizable, a man we can all identify with. In a few pages, RInkel takes us from childhood to retirement, and lays out the motivation that keeps a writer working away with no guarantee of success. For all its elegiac tone, however, there is something life affirming and even cheering in Rinkel's recognition that playwriting is its own reward. Well done!

A charming short for older actors. John Kelly deftly sets up this piece is which a man appears to be robbing two women who cannot see. But these ladies are not as defenseless as they seem, and try as he might, François cannot steal anything without being caught dead to rights. Anna and Evelyn are way ahead of him the whole time!

A highly topical pandemic play that is just right for actors during lockdown. Lam's ingenious drama places a boss and an employee in their respective cars on the way to work in California. They find themselves battling traffic, COVID, wildfires, a lack of protective gear and the politics of an unfriendly workplace that won't let them work from home. To make matters worse, this hapless and unlucky pair find they have one more obstacle to work around before they reach the comparative safety of the office. This short play has drama, suspense and a lot of wry humor. Recommended!

The Last Ride is an appropriately apocalyptic vision of Los Angeles on the first day of a Pence presidency. Mildred Lewis serves up her nightmare scenario with sharp wit and lots of suspense. Her characters Marisol, Darius and Amanda have nothing in common except that fate has brought them together to figure out how to survive. Can they work together as a team to fend off the coyotes and get out of NE LA? There is hope as well as humor in this taut, short drama.

Mercy Otis Warren is vividly reimagined in this monologue. Elisabeth Griffin Speckman sets the scene with Warren's return to a museum in her hometown, centuries after her death. There's lots of information about her life, presented with insight and humor. Warren is understandably irritated, for example, to discover the books of her male contemporaries are for sale in the bookstore of the museum, but not her own. A clever, informative piece for audiences of all ages.

A funny, but poignant comedy about all the ways our pets dictate the choices in our lives. It's a particular problem for lovebirds Taylor and Jennifer because their pets don't get along. In fact, Jennifer's cat Peanut doesn't get along with anyone. Using puppetry to play the pets, Noemi de la Puente's drama zips along with equal shots of humor and pathos, as Peanut and Porkie drive their humans to the brink and beyond!