Recommended by Eli Effinger-Weintraub

  • Hal and His Atomic Ray Gun
    30 Dec. 2019
    A short piece that skillfully blends humor and heart. Hal is a character who grabs your attention from the very beginning, and the more the pieces of his story come into focus, the more you'll empathize with him. Come for the laughs; stay for the heartfelt exploration of loss and the difficulty of letting go.
  • Joyland
    20 Dec. 2019
    A sly poke at American corporate culture, as typified by Disney but honestly pervasive across industries. An examination of the way motherhood and other conventionally "female" pursuits are denigrated and the way the concept of "family-friendly" is often UNfriendly to real families. Quick, witty dialogue offers a real treat to two performers, and Princess Mackenzi in particular presents a fun opportunity to balance human and android behaviors. A fine addition to any short play fest.
  • The Sun, the Moon, and Salena
    17 Dec. 2019
    What an opportunity for two performers. There's an effortless magic to the way the characters get to know each other, enrapturing the audience with the shared storytelling that brings them closer. May take you back to a hundred poignant late nights in college, when the world was brimming with possibilities as close as the moon and as far away as love. Full of wonderfully evocative imagery and emotions.
  • Memento Mori
    12 Dec. 2019
    A short play that hits all the right notes. It's a little bit funny, sad, creepy, conflicted, and very touching. There's a lot of great dialogue and also a lot of great physicality, especially for Sam and Tabitha. A lovely look at life, death, and our obligations to each other.
  • Monsters Beyond the Midnight Zone
    10 Dec. 2019
    This script packs SO MUCH into a mere 7 pages. It starts on the run and doesn't let up once. Partain takes you through a rollercoaster of terror-hope-despair, and then an unexpected moment of the peace you can only find when you know with absolute certainty that the worst thing you can imagine is about to happen to you. An incredible opportunity for two performers and some talented technicians.
  • Sir Theo and the Swamp Boy
    15 Nov. 2019
    Oh gosh I just love this script so much. It's so full of heart and humor, engaging for audiences of all ages. A wonderful look at the power of imagination and open-heartedness, and a dive into that trembling time when you're just old enough to start to see the horrors of the adult world but not yet fully understand or impact them. A fantastic opportunity for two young actors.
  • Clarabelle, 86
    29 Aug. 2019
    This is a gloriously messy (both literally and figuratively) play about mortality, morality, and what it means to be alive in this chaotic time. Fox's characters jump to life from their first words, and the messy set immediately conveys both the claustrophobia so many of us often feel and the dangerous ways we can become attached to material "stuff." What do we owe to ourselves in life, and what do we owe the dead once they're gone? A funny and profound work.
  • Yarn and Anarchy — a Christmas play
    1 Aug. 2019
    BWAHAHAH! What a delight. Plummer's fast-paced Christmas play redistributes power and switches the upper hand back and forth like a well-timed tennis match. You never know what's coming next--and some of the turns are explosive, indeed. Actors would have a terrific time digging into these witty characters and their fraught relationship, Yarn and Anarchy would add a wonderful dose of low-treacle zaniness to any Christmas-themed festival.
  • Spellbound
    27 Jun. 2019
    This is a complicated script that wrestles with questions of love, consent, free will, magic, and ethics. I appreciate that Everett gives us no easy answers: the antagonist barely gets his head out of his own ass, let alone a redemption arc; while the protagonists are left with a hopeful but forever altered Ever After. This one gives performers really juicy roles to sink their teeth into, and will give audiences a lot to think about after the curtain falls.
  • Well, No, But(t)
    6 Jun. 2019
    In just one minute, Hageman reminds us all too pointedly what it's like to be a female-read teenager in a society obsessed with body policing and shaming of young women. A lot of us afab kids would've been a lot better off if we'd had dads like Dave, and the loving, supportive relationship between the two characters shines in every line.

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