Recommended by jose sebastian alberdi

The intriguing, spooky premise of a child who remembers his past life gives way to a play about two women who realize they may be more similar than they initially thought. CIRCLE FORWARD explores abuse and its half-life (if it has one), unspeakable secrets (it's a big one!), and the expectations children place on their mothers (and what happens when they’re shattered). I enjoyed the twists and turns throughout and I think all the roles (Ethan especially) would be exciting for actors.

Hilarious, mysterious, terrifying. I finally saw this at THE POOL NYC and it only made me love it more. The laughter in the audience was non-stop. But the growing sense of tension and unease as you begin to wonder what’s really going on is the real star of the show. Like many Brenda Withers plays, one of The Ding Dongs' greatest delights is how it demands to be turned over in your mind long after you’ve left the theatre—it's a play that definitely follows you home. (Whatever "home" means...)

This play rocks. Like, it rocks so hard. Reid’s created a world that effortlessly flits between stage & screen & drag & not-drag that hit my heart in places I wasn't expecting. The storytelling and thematic wordplay is so, so strong. It’s also incredibly funny and written with a really specific wittiness that makes you immediately fall in love with the characters. Additionally, there are opportunities for some really joyful, rich moments of drag performance. And honestly there's this extended theatrical moment at the end of the play that in my opinion would be worth the price of admission alone.

Damn, this play is spooky, gripping, and sad as hell. Tanya O’Debra’s storytelling is so taut and the time jumps in the narrative work so well to set up a relentless sense of dread and moments of real emotion for the characters. Aside from the plot, Them What Brung You is also just a wonderfully theatrical play that I would be excited to see on a stage—I think it’d be a blast to work on a production of it. I hope I get to see it soon.

Wowie! This play really hit me in the heart, the way love and humiliation mix in queer male relationships, and all the feelings bubbling underneath every seemingly too-intense fetish act. I would love to see this play produced because it just really works as a theatrical piece, and if I felt all of these feelings—dread, hope, a little bit of “aw, that’s love”, etc.—while reading it, I can’t imagine how I’d feel watching it. Great play.

This play is so incredibly tight in its writing. I’m still thinking about the ways in which family backgrounds, identities, and institutional roles come into play as the characters in this play interact with each other. And that last scene is just… really, really effective in driving the play home. Great visual/digital design opportunities! Plus the fact that it’s a play with four great roles makes it’s a no-brainer—produce this play!

Just a really gorgeous play. The poetry in the piece and the way that meaning and love and connection is created from the simple, every day acts presented in the play, is—to steal a repeated phrase from the play, orgasmic. I would love to see a production of this play, and if I feel so much sitting here after reading it, I can’t imagine what I’d feel post watching it in a theatre. I’d probably be crying happysad tears, that, I know, for sure.

Brenda Withers is undoubtedly a genius. This is a spooky, hell of a scary play that will make you laugh harder than you’ve laughed in a long time. It’s almost like Law & Order meets Twin Peaks, but funny funny funny. Brenda has a gift for circling a certain idea to its most comical extreme, and then shooting off to another idea, doing the same thing, all while making you reconsider your life and the forces that make it happen in between your laughs. She’s just so good! And this play is too.

You can be sober, you can be into it, you can say “yes”—but who’s in charge? This is a really subtle and intense play about the realization that a past sexual relationship maybe wasn’t as consensual as you thought it was, or wanted it to be. It’s a play about power. It’s about the oftentimes painful reckoning that occurs when someone realizes that, yes, maybe it happened to me too, and why am I so afraid to admit it? LOVE is one of my favorite plays I’ve read this year.

Honestly, I never knew what was going to happen next in this play. And that’s a good thing. From low-key adorable but menacing dancing vegetarian grizzly bears, to sibling interactions ranging from awkward to tender; Megan and the Bear Go Camping is a really gorgeous play. Zoe is able to really take us to a place where society still has difficulty going—honest portrayals of depression—and leaves us examining our own relationships to depression in our daily lives long after the play has ended.