Recommended by Doug DeVita

In Scott Sickles’ “Intellectuals” a psychologist leaves her husband to explore her untapped femininity in the form of a newly discovered interest in lesbianism. She isn't sure she is a lesbian, but she'd like to find out. This kind of daffy logic is hilariously and shrewdly observed in a fast and furious screwball comedy that sails merrily along on wave after wave of sophisticated one liners that zing with convulsive sting.

This play. THIS play. I'm still shaking from reading it. John Minigan's "Closing Doors" is topical, political theater at its absolute best. It says everything that needs to be said, and says it with razor sharp economy. A must read for anyone at all concerned with the current state of the world, and how future generations are being affected. THIS! PLAY!

A wild and wonderful ride, Elisabeth Karlin's "Bodega Bay" is a loving, funny, and deeply moving tale of a sister's devotion to her meth addict brother, and the cross-country journey she undertakes to find the mother who abandoned them both. It is also a fabulous homage to all things Hitchcock – from the name of the play, to the Macguffins peppering the script, to some of the characters' names, Karlin pays tribute to the master while maintaining her own voice; no easy feat, and done here with style, grace, and wit. I adore this play.

The Golden Girls meet The Women in Greg Brisendine's hilarious, touching, and ultimately heartbreaking comedy about the cost of living your life on your own terms after a lifetime of living a lie. Memorable characters and fabulous zingers keep the action moving merrily forward, until the lies come home to roost in a denouement that haunts.

A seriously charming fable, Wayne L. Firestone's "Dr. Esparanto" dissects the power of language to both unite and divide, and makes a strong case for one universal form of communication. Lovely, compelling, and thought-provoking.

Another delightful work from William Triplett, "Medea Part Deaux: That Woman!" upends the classic story with hilarious agility in this irreverently sly sequel. The laughs come honestly, the individual lines are hilarious, and the underlying theme of gender politics is presented with a clarity that is as humorous as it is serious. Bravo, Bill!

Bold, provocative, and shrewdly observed, Amy Berryman’s “Winner” captures the current theatrical landscape with a pithy, honest beauty that both stings and enlightens. Exquisite.

No one anthropomorphizes better than Robin Rice, and very few can match her for poetic urgency. Both enchanting and devastating, “A Wolf, A Rabbit, and A Crow...” is a fable for our times, and a damn good one at that. A beautifully harsh, ultimately hopeful work of art.

Bravo. Or is it Brava? Does it matter? Scott Sickles puts the pretentious claptrap of avant-garde theater in his sites, and his aim never falters. At 15 pages, this is a virtual marathon of pretentious claptrappery, a sharply astute, delightfully funny, inventive, and perfectly meta ode to a style of writing one either loves or hates. It’s Sickles’ supreme achievement that with “Woman In A Pressure Cooker...” one can do both simultaneously.

Weaver’s “Mr. Irresistible” is a brilliant short play using a middle-school student’s assignment as a metaphor for censorship and the urge of the uber-controlling to stamp down any spark of creativity that goes against their limited view of the world. Chilling, heartbreaking, and spot on.