Recommended by Doug DeVita

  • The Elusive Pursuit of Maximum Bliss
    15 Jun. 2021
    This is a lovely, touching, happiness-making gem. My bliss meter chimed at the exact same time as Preuss’s character Max’s did, and I’m still basking in the contented glow with which I was left after reading the play. Do yourself a favor, and enjoy bliss; it’s a choice, and it's easily found in these 13 pages.
  • The Farm
    14 Jun. 2021
    A cat and mouse game with alternating cat and mouse, Walt McGough’s nifty psychological thriller toys with us right from the beginning, nimbly darting in and out of the shadowy worlds of truth vs. fiction, fear vs. confidence, and trust vs. doubt. McGough builds the tension steadily through his well-defined characters; watching these two turning the tables on each other is a nail-biting joy, and oh, what fun they must be to perform.
  • The Frequency of Stars and Other Matter
    14 Jun. 2021
    Spellbinding, gorgeous writing catapults this play into the heavens and keeps it there from beginning to end; an unsettling, haunting yet lyrical work, it’s the kind of play you wish you’d written, and will keep close to your heart forever. Oh, how I’d love to see it staged.
  • Familiar
    14 Jun. 2021
    A tender gut punch of a play. LeBlanc beautifully captures the conflicting feelings one has while watching a parent slip away, but does it with a quiet determination: there is nothing desperate or angst-ridden about the work – it’s just a conversation between a father and son, which in its own muted way is both lovely and heartbreaking.
  • Familiar - Audio Version
    14 Jun. 2021
    A slightly adjusted audio version of LeBlanc’s beautifully tender gut punch of a play; I’d love to hear this performed as it is just as powerfully written as the stage version.
  • The Vacuous Case of Mister Um
    13 Jun. 2021
    A vibrant mix of youthful, humorous fervor, and seriously realized adult themes; Turco’s use of formalized language not only gives the piece its highly individual style, it also works to heighten the comedy, the tension, and the absurdist nature of the work and the surreal, nightmarish world in which it lives.
  • Crossing Lights
    13 Jun. 2021
    An easy, breezy rom-com, complete with the requisite meet-cutes, witty lines, and scene-stealing supporting characters, perking along hitting all the right notes until… the plot twist. What up until then had been just a little too perfect… well… read it and find out. Oh, and keep reading. Because the twist isn’t what or where you think it is. And it changes everything.
  • Ghosts and Monsters
    11 Jun. 2021
    A beautifully elegiac heartbreaker with undercurrents of horror, Rice explores creativity inspired by grief with a soulful precision that is full of sentiment, but never sentimental. The early scenes between William, a writer still struggling with the death of his 8-year-old daughter Miranda decades before, are achingly exquisite; later, when Rice brings us into the world of the book William is writing and we meet Miranda’s alter ego, they terrify – and thrill. Complicated yet concise, lyrical but frightening, this is a ghost story that truly haunts.
  • The Argument
    11 Jun. 2021
    OUCH! This argument is painful. Painfully awkward, painfully truthful, and oh, so painfully funny. Neil Radtke has distilled thousands of years of carnal battle into ten delightful pages of misguided seduction that ends, well… with a bang. A totally apropos, wonderfully surprising, and (this can’t be said too many times) painfully funny bang that will leave one gasping for breath.
  • Mystery at Upton House
    10 Jun. 2021
    A fascinating glimpse into how an interactive murder mystery is constructed, this is oodles of fun in its own right. Wonderfully over-the-top characters, thickly and smartly plotted, and both funny and DRAMATIC, it’s as enjoyable to read as it must be to see performed all around you.

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