Recommended by Sharai Bohannon

Boyle definitely has a command of language and this monologue showcases that beautifully. It's an honest but intense page that grabs you from the beginning and holds you accountable for the assassins actions. At what lengths would we go to rid ourselves of a tyrant? And would we stand by if someone commits a crime to rid us of them? Or do we stand up and asked to be held accountable as well. Lots to mull over after this one!

This is the perfect dark comedy for a festival or anthology. It's smart, it's fun, and also brings up this problem we have with the word no (and the problem that is dating culture as a whole). This might be my favorite play from Hayet yet.

Bublitz has a way of tackling difficult topics and problematic people in a charismatic way. We know what's really being said, and most of us even know how Rose feels, but the way the moment is captured makes it feels like we are present enough to experience the discomfort of it all first hand. I feel like I'm in an art gallery staring at a delightful painting but discovering all of the clues that the artist left signaling that these aren't just friends in a garden. Much more indeed!

This is the monologue I wish I had during my college years. Partain captures so much of the experience of the first "What am I to you?" and "Why don't they feel the same way about me?" moment we all have. This should definitely be published somewhere for younger audiences to have something poetic that captures those emotions.

This is a haunting little piece. It's much darker than what I've read from Bykowski so far but the way she unravels the bigger picture is breath-taking and and as masterful as her other works. This play addresses so many important issues that we never talk about and it should be produced ninety times for each one it tackles.

This is such beautiful play! This play could've easily been 1001 different and predictable things but is instead this touching moment where someone makes peace with becoming a dad. Bykowski seems to be a master at grasping readers and including them in these major, but brief, moments that leaves us with a warm glow. Looking forward to reading more from this playwright!

This 10 minute is packed with so many emotional twists and turns. When you think it's a comedy it shifts to something serious and vice versa. Our regular emotions are always intertwined (because life goes on) so I love that this mirrors that in such a realistic way.

This is like an abbreviated episode of Black Mirror. Hageman takes a creepy idea and then finds ways to kick it up to horrifying. This definitely belongs in a festival of horror/sci-fi feminist new work and should be discussed. This is going to stay with me for the rest of the day and I could use a shower.

"I feel like at the bottom of it the question is how to you get others to understand that you’re human." is one of the many lines that resonates with me from this powerful monologue. This country has an extreme habit of "otherizing" people and that has resulted in some horrible atrocities and the current predicament where the government separates children from their families on a regular basis. I'm looking forward to reading more of Kokai's work and I 100% believe we need this monologue produced, published, filmed, etc.

This play begins with a sense of wonder and then becomes so heavy and tragic. I'm envious of Hageman's ability to capture the fragility pf three people and their relationships to each other while conveying pressures we put onto ourselves and onto others. The instinct is to mourn for these characters but it's hard to forget Lilith's first line "This could be a sad story, but I’ve decided it’s not." and to see it as a call to action to be better to ourselves and our loved ones. I LOVE this play.