Recommended by Doug DeVita

FOOD FIGHT! What images those two words conjure up, and with so many people with so many food issues these days, it’s not difficult to imagine the kind of group therapy session Vivian Lermond humorously, and astutely, writes about here. Lots of fun: sharp, anxiety provoking, accurately observed fun. And yes, let’s do throw a pot-luck dinner party. It would be interesting to see if anyone emerges unscathed.

As a huge fan of Nick Malakhow’s work, I’m surprised I hadn’t read this mesmerizing play until now. Gorgeously written, the tension hangs in the air like a raincloud threatening to burst at any moment – and when it finally does, Malakhow delivers a perfect storm of emotions that cuts deep and true. A stunning work, a beautiful work, a necessary work.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.