Recommended by Peter Fenton

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!

As someone who has also developed an impossible crush on the subway, I found this piece especially relatable. Emmy Kuperschmid has written an intriguing, thought-provoking zoom play. A dark comedy to be sure, but also a powerful illustration of how the pandemic has messed with all of our human-to-human interactions. I especially love the monologues for our lead role, January—Kuperschmid's style blends true-to-life dialogue with spoken word poetry in a way that must be heard aloud. Highly recommend this quick read!

This one is a short, poignant monologue reflecting on how honest Emma Lazarus’ words really are at the base of the Statue of Liberty. I’ll definitely be thinking about this one next time I see Lady Liberty.

I'm so happy I stumbled upon the excerpt of this play! Emmy Kuperschmid has great comedy chops on full display in this short excerpt and I'd be intrigued to see the rest of the script to see the full arc of the promising synopsis. Also... I love a good pun more than anything in the world and I'll be laughing about the Clean Elizabeth II for a while.

I really appreciate this play—Marj O’Neill-Butler taps into universal worries about death and aging as she writes very true-to-life dialogue in a short, gently comedic slice-of-life scene twinged with melancholy.

I saw the production of this play by the Bucks County Playhouse professional youth company last summer! This was an incredible story about accepting others and dealing with the heavy secrets we carry. It really was a great production from top to bottom and it's a show I hope to see regularly performed by schools and professional companies alike!

I love any comedic subversive take on the afterlife, so Plumridge's 10-minute play hit me in an especially great place! I love that this play just raises more and more questions as it goes on, about Marston's life, about "Steph" and "Lucy", about gay heaven vs straight heaven—and I think I admire most that the play doesn't leave the reader with an answer. Highly recommend... I'd love to see a little girl play God!

Oh my goodness! This play was so funny—I plowed through it at a very quick clip. Ferrer's farcical sense of humor leaps right off the page and the ending is just gambit upon gambit upon gambit. I have occasional nightmares about suddenly getting roped into throwing a party I didn't know anything about, so this play and its protagonists were pretty relatable to me.

I never thought I needed the devilish inverse of It's a Wonderful Life, but I'm so glad I found it in this quick play! Even the demons need to remember their purpose every once in a while. John Mabey spins pointedly hilarious commentary on humanity in this play and keeps it all at a snappy pace that manages to say quite a bit in just a few pages. Well done!

I loved this play. What a powerful illustration of the idea of someone smart who has ears to hear growing and changing. I saw lots of parallels in Charity's arc with the real life story Megan Phelps-Roper and her relationship with Westboro and her mother, but played in such a way that's applicable to many, many people and relationships. And—that ending. What an excellent ending! I really want to see a production of this play.