Recommended by John Bavoso

This is a dramatic comedy that covers a lot of ground including workplace drama, bi erasure, and more, but keeps its very real-feeling characters always at its center. I particularly appreciate getting a fat gay character who struggles with body image and insecurity, but that’s not the entirety of his identity. Highly recommended!

What starts as a book club meeting that feels like the most uncomfortable audience talkback in history quickly becomes something much more fantastical and metatheatrical in this quick-witted and sharply observed piece. Mendoza has created a script that asks big questions about the nature of storytelling while throwing in lots of humor and biting satire. It would be so much fun to watch an ambitious director and cast bring this play to life!

This is such a gorgeous play about grief, growing up, and moving on (or not). At its center is a complicated relationship between sisters as they both attempt to figure out their plans for the future while grappling with the past. The dialogue flows so naturally and is suffused with just enough humor and edge to feel like a real, lived-in sibling relationship—despite being surrounded by supernatural elements. I think this play would be a joy for actors and designers alike to tackle. Highly recommended!

This play is such a naturalistic, poignant examination of grief, loss, regret, and love. The format is familiar, but the characters are so fully formed and swing from perfectly reasonable to totally absurd—in the way we all do in the wake of the sudden death of a loved one—that you can’t help but want to follow them wherever they lead.

I think all high school reunions are, to some degree, a disaster, but in REUNION, Zoe Maltby has created peak awkwardness and drama—cannibalistic undead former classmates included! This is such a wild, campy homage to ‘90s and early aughts teen movies (the use of my personal senior-year-of-high-school nemesis, Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” is ::chef’s kiss::), yet the script is punctuated with some surprisingly tender moments. This play is total blast to read and, I’d imagine, a super-fun challenge to produce (especially the epic fight scenes)!

In RAVAGE, Nina Ki uses the lens of pop culture to look at the ways in which we attempt to process trauma and how that can affect our relationships with the people in our lives. I found the character of Arsenic to be be particularly compelling, as a sort of trauma tourist or vampire in her own right. It was my love of Buffy that drew me to this play, and I’m glad it did, because it led me to a highly original, nuanced piece of theatre. Everyone should give this play a read.

I just saw UAB’s gorgeous production of this tender, lyrical piece that shows off Partain’s gift for writing beautiful words that feel both lovingly crafted yet free of artifice. An exemplary solo show and a gift to actors. Highly recommended!

I love a cozy mystery, and Cozzola has created a darkly comedic one full of ruminations about art, professional jealousy, and more. But what really shines is the depth of characters. A delightfully theatrical piece, this would be a fun challenge for the right cast and director. Well done!

My body is still tense from reading this script (I can’t wait to SEE it), despite its humor and breakneck pace—but it was all worth it for that ending! Phillip has taken the typical living room dramedy and ratcheted up the stakes, delivering fully fleshed-out characters you grow attached to, all in the context of a terrifying reality in which queer men are being rounded up and kept in camps. THE CHECHENS is a piece that forces us to asks tough questions about what we’d do during times of persecution without being heavyhanded. Read this play!

This play asks thought-provoking questions about parenthood, genetic engineering, and “gifted” education, but it’s the characters and their very real, human conflicts that draw you into this play. I found myself compelled to keep going, as if this were a thriller or horror script (which in some ways it is). Clyman has created some really juicy characters for actors to inhabit, especially Claire. Highly recommended.