Recommended by Ken Preuss

John Mabey’s CASTLES IN THE ZOOM is a timely, tender, fast, and funny, romantic comedy that allows its characters to “meet-cute” without actually meeting in person. Watching Avery and Jordan roll with the changes, connect with someone new, and embrace the wonders of Zoom (rather than curse its limitations), dreamers of all-kinds can be inspired to do the same with their circumstances, finding a little magic of their own.

Bridges, bicycles, and the biology of snails are unlikely subjects for romantic banter, but in the hands of playwright, John Mabey, and from the mouths of his characters, the topics become both tender and touching. Sophie and Tess connect on a tour of Amsterdam, but their fears, flirtations, and foibles are instantly relatable. Like a love itself, THE LEGEND OF SNAILS, is unique, universal, and unforgettable.

Mabey’s short play weaves complicated characters, complex situations, and cathartic emotions into a poetic and poignant look at love and loss. With memorable roles and moving revelations, BIRDSEED soars, providing plenty of food for thought.

Theatre is best when it entertains and leaves an audience thinking. Speckman ties both skills together in a perfect bow, presenting a meet-cute that slowly devolves into an end-dark… or does it? After watching and reading, I’m still debating the motives and meanings in the casual conversation of both compelling characters. Sweet, surprising, and tad-bit scary, SHOELACES leaves things dangling with an artistic flair, daring us to decide what it means.

Minigan’s wonderfully titled, THANK YOU, TWO, is just as wonderfully written. A pair of teens in a tech-booth on closing night of a play discuss endings and beginnings so sweetly and subtly that you almost feel as though you are eavesdropping. Exploring familiar emotions in an unfamiliar setting with laughs and love, THANK YOU, TWO is technically perfect.

Since 2020, nearly everyone has experienced an uncomfortable Zoom mishap or a relationship that’s gone a bit askew. John Mabey blends both scenarios beautifully in a playful script packed with big laughs, awkward silences, and clever twists. Written for 4 actors of any gender, age, and ethnicity, THE END IS JUST THE BEGINNING is a computer-friendly can’t-miss comedy exploring the fun and frustrations of friendship in the modern age. Watch it with your friends… if you dare!

In Mabey’s buzzworthy script, a couple in bed banter about dreams, playfully fighting, pleasantly flirting, and poignantly facing their fears. A quick-paced comic take on the totally irrational and perfectly normal anxieties that sting us all, Bag of Bees is a bucket of laughs.

Like a poem, a play can create magic not only with what is said but with what it leaves unsaid. Mabey embraces this idea beautifully, giving his characters time and space to explore an eloquent conversation on religion and remorse, confessions and connections. Understated and profound in equal measures, 'the most brave girl in the whole wide world" moves us with its stillness.

Levine knows that great baseball and great theatre share many qualities: passages of poetry, expressions of character, moments of joy, comforting rhythms, unexpected twists, and unforgettable memories. Going, Going, Gone is a home run in both fields.

Brought together by the death of a loved-one, the lives of three unique yet relatable characters become unexpectedly and inextricably intertwined. Mabey’s exploration of lost love and found family unfolds in a nonlinear fashion, raising questions and providing answers in surprising and satisfying ways. From the provocative opening scene to the poetic final moment, A Complicated Hope offers characters and revelations that are both perfectly natural and poignantly unpredictable.