Recommended by Doug DeVita

A delightful ten minutes that asks big, deep, life changing questions and answers them with ridiculously charming theories, sort of like a distaff “Big Bang…” but less abrasive and brainy, more heartfelt and touching. And funny. Very, very funny.

Purists beware: this is not the “Persuasion” of Jane Austen, bearing little more than a passing resemblance to her early 19th century classic of love lost through ill-advised exhortation. What it is, however, is a fascinating, updated rethinking of the story, set in a dystopian future where the mores are similar – if grungier – but the stakes are much higher than who’s going to be invited to a card game in Lady Dalrymple’s drawing room. An edgy, dark, and risk-taking work that stands on its own two less-than-silk-slipper-shod feet, and one I would love to see staged.

There’s something about a seaside setting that invites a pervasive air of unrest and melancholy, and in this cinematically structured piece from Scott Sickles, the setting merges beautifully with his somewhat uneasy (this time) romanticism; the effect (at least in this early draft) is akin to being in a perpetually dream-like state, mesmerized by the waves rolling in and out. One of Sickles’ more introspective works, he takes great risks with time and place, shifting perspectives incessantly and relentlessly; I can’t wait to see how he develops this, as it is already pretty heady stuff.

With archly absurd language and situations, Jan Probst keeps ratcheting up the hilarity while at the same time never losing sight of the troubled relationship at the center of this very funny, yet ultimately touching little gem. Go Mary!!!

I listened to the audio version of this play: what a hoot! Lermond’s sure sense of murder mystery plotting and characters makes for a nice, tight, and entertaining script, and to have the luxury of listening to it performed in its wonderfully mounted radio production was an absolute treat.

“Seems like a clunky interjection of social consciousness on the part of the playwright in an otherwise pointless play, but if that’s how she wants to use this platform, ok.”

Ok, Kelly, you owe me a new keyboard for that one.

In a play that gets funnier and funnier with every absurd line and situation, when McBurnette-Andronicos crosses over into navel-gazing meta-theatricality and then tops it with the aforementioned line, she goes from the ridiculously funny to the sublime. And she makes you think, at the very least about proofreading anything and everything before you click “send.”

Right before my head exploded, my neck was starting to hurt from the constantly surprising plot twisting Martineu employs in this brilliantly meta short play. Read it, savor it, order a neck brace, and produce it.

A master class in how to write exposition and shift expectations, this is a perfect 10, and a play that must be as exciting to see on stage as it is to read. And, I imagine, a feast for the performers. I loved every word of this.

A riveting prison drama, set apart from others of its ilk by the gritty humanity Black gives his characters; Pretty Boy’s journey to understanding isn’t an easy one, but we root for him all the way precisely because he is portrayed so bluntly, and truthfully.

Being of Irish/Italian and Catholic descent, I LOVE a good revenge tale. And I love John Busser’s work, especially when he’s in darkly humorous mode. There are so many ways I could laud this brief, outRAGEous script, but I think the best thing I can say is I would hire the protagonist in a heartbeat. I have a (not so) little list of my own for her…