Recommended by Peter Fenton

Two well-trod genres: the families of a couple in love clashing and a zombie apocalypse—are blended together in a side-splittingly funny one act from Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn. I love how the characters in this piece are a bit freaked out about “the rot” and yet can still be preoccupied with their own mundane slice-of-life conflicts. The tension between the mundane and the apocalyptically silly is played to excellent effect. Well done!

A deliciously funny skewering of the American GOP in the 45 era re-contextualized as mad scientists managing a rogue beast from the lab. I really thought all the stock parodies of 45 and his cronies were done to death, but John Busser proved me wrong today! A hilarious quick read!

I am always down for a postmodern, subversive re-interpretation of the creation story! Brandon Zang has a particular poetic way of writing and structuring dialogue that makes some of the very modern elements of his story (Eve being interested in STEM, Adam's preoccupation with story structure) feel like they belong in the original text of Paradise Lost. An intriguing, stylistic read!

Whoa!! This three-person coming-of-age play takes such a dark turn and yet feels deeply reflective of what it's like to grow up as a gay kid, especially in a small town. Stephen Redmon-Byrum's realistic dialogue for all stages of childhood really punches up the deep emotion and tragedy of this story. Excellent work!

A deliciously dark monologue for the oblivious everyman during a zombie apocalypse! Highly recommended as an audition piece for a 40-something man going out for a dark comedy.

What an intriguing character drama! I find it fascinating to think about what a conversation would look like with a soul lost too soon, and Brigit van Gemeren explores some heavy unresolved interpersonal drama cloaked in religious language with an ending that feels truly fitting for the unresolved nature of regrets, Catholic guilt, and dying young. A fascinating, quick read!

An intriguing, very human confrontation of America's uncomfortable, racist history—literally. I was struck especially by the early line, "we’re dealing with a ghost here. He’s trapped in time. If you stab him in the heart, like he wants you to, he might just be getting what he wants." How interesting it is to consider what happens when we invite "relics" of the past to come face to face with what they really stood for. Thought-provoking and clever!

Two of my favorite traditions are having actors play complete nonsense with a straight face and blending the mundane with the fantastical. Weaver's 10-minute play has both executed deliciously well!

This play is—for lack of a better word—epic! Yoshikawa has done something I've never quite seen done before: create a play in the grand style and language of Shakespeare but with a distinctly postmodern narrative. This play MUST be read aloud in order to fully appreciate the depth to the language Yoshikawa brought to the piece. It is unmistakably Shakespearean, and yet unmistakably speaking to the here and now. Well done!

I love any little gay love story and Claudia Haas has written a beautiful slice-of-life scene exploring a bit of the dynamic between a lesbian couple in the Midwest. I enjoyed the beats of humor (like substituting profanity with literally the word "expletive") and the tenderness of the situation, especially with two women at different points in their journey of self-acceptance. A quick, satisfying read!