Recommended by Peter Fenton

[11/12/2024] Some love stories are sad, some love stories are trippy. Some love stories deliver a poignant, evocative illustration of neurodivergence within a story of mid-life crisis navigating racism and homophobia. Sickles has managed to do all of this in SEASIDE TRAGEDIES. Of the many things to love about this script, Scott is a writer who has proven he knows the rules of playwriting intimately, and earns the reader's implicit trust to dive deeper with him as he delightfully breaks them.

[11/3/2024] Are we all AI on some level? It may seem an absurd question, but it's the one Soucy explores in his aptly titled AM I AI? This briskly-paced three-hand sci-fi drama begins with the audience introduced to anthropomorphized AI character delightfully similar to D'Arcy Carden's character on THE GOOD PLACE but expands to raise difficult questions of ethics and values for people, machines, and everything in between as it explores the full, and I mean FULL, range of the human experience.

[11/1/2024] In IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS, it is so clear through this play how much knowledge and love Nora Louise Syran has for the city of Paris and its rich art and music history. I appreciate Syran's modern approach to interpreting of all the various French Impressionists, packaged in kind of a dream-like vignette style, which I couldn't help but feel was a love letter to Paris itself. Anyone part of a production of this play would learn a lot and have a great experience every step of the way!

[10/30/24] I mean it when I say Philip Middleton Williams never misses. In A GOOD YEAR, Williams explores complex dynamics of parent-teacher and teacher-student relationships with the added intrigue dimension that all three are some stripe of queer men (and I will add, the student is 18). I thoroughly enjoyed the dive into transactional relationships, corrupted innocence, familial expectations, and good old-fashioned ethics explored through very grounded, human dialogue trademark of a PMW play.

[10/17/24] Any kid who grew up in the gifted and talented program needs to read this play, then schedule an appointment with your therapist. Sam Heyman has written a trippy, beautiful, grounded human story exploring the complex mind of a former prodigy. The fraught relationships between reality and imagination, parent and child, past and present are explored in exquisite academic language and true-to-life stumblings of a college freshman. I can't wait to see a lighting designer tackle this one.

It's genuinely always fun to engage with a David Lee White script. It's even more fun seeing his own specific take on the plight of a theater administrative team bouncing back in 2021. His delicious one-liners are cutting, his characters are well-drawn, and ETIQUETTE specifically raises questions about power, privilege, and the changing landscape of theatrical audiences (and office staff) in the here and now. This one's a fun, punchy read.

In this LGBTQ romantic dramedy, THE LOVER AND THE FIGHTER, Sam Heyman shows us an illustration of a poignant love story, a story that reminds us that loving someone doesn't necessarily just mean consummating the relationship but rather, letting them leave an irreversible mark on you for better and for worse. What I especially enjoy about this play is how we see both Lee and Shawn engage with their past through the (welcomed or not) help of other significant relationships in their life!

TWELVE BOOKS is a touching ten-minute two-hander illustrating an “ordinary” dynamic between a grown son and the spirit of his father, packing up the last few of his books. The twist is the father appears as his sixteen-year-old self. Williams has created an intriguing acting challenge for a young performer to embody someone who has lived a full life in this succinct, resonant play!

Even under the guise of an absurd 10-minute comedy following anthropomorphic animals, Philip Middleton Williams' skill as a dialogue writer and storyteller is on full display in this piece. I laughed out loud several times while reading BIRDS OF PARADISE and appreciated the dark humor bits of characterization for the buzzard and the unexpected guest.

As someone who grew up very religious and is gay, plays like SO AM I by Ryan Vaughan that explore the run-ins of religion and human identity really touch me. I think it works very well as a 10-minute piece and a story like this one offers a lot of room to expand into a longer one-act or a full-length. I like seeing a candid mother/daughter relationship where ultimately, love wins the day.