Recommended by Doug DeVita

For a play that is still in the drafting process, Laura Pickard's "The Modern Wolf and the Worth of Shakespeare" packs quite a punch. Haunting, scary, funny... Pickard's script is tautly non-linear, yet tells its story clearly, the sharply drawn characters concisely building tension from the beginning right up through the heartbreaking, yet emotionally satisfying conclusion.

What fun! With the first line, Danley grabs you by the throat and carries you along on inspired gusts of period specific dialogue that nonetheless crackles with a contemporary spin. And as tightly woven as the plot is, Danley has created a wonderfully blank canvas with which directors, designers, and cast members can have fun turning into their own highly spirited, highly mannered manor.

What a sweet, funny play about old friendships and new love. Great roles for three older actresses, and a lot of pithy, laugh-out-loud dialogue for them to have fun with while pushing the plot along with verve and grace.

An achingly beautiful examination of love and loss, FINISHING THE SUIT may play fast and loose with reality, but that's part of its magical charm. What was, what may have been, and what will be... those are the questions asked by Aronovitch, questions which waft and linger like the two major loves who both haunt and define the tailor at the center of this touching play.

OMG, I love this play. It's a sparkling jewel of a romantic comedy with depth of feeling that's surprising, given its brevity; it's a perfectly painted miniature work of art.

"One Small Step" is a potent plea for love and acceptance, brilliantly leveraging the moon landing in 1969 as a metaphor for the emerging fight for gay rights. And it is also a strong reminder that 50 years later, as the country is once again entering the space race yet stepping backwards in almost every other area of human expression, that the fight for equal rights is far from over. A touching, yet disturbing piece of work, timely and thought-provoking.

Karlin's atmospheric, film-noirish "Hotbed" is an endlessly fascinating work which mixes the Hollywood Studio system and the quiet but systemic racism that fueled both the system and the country in the early 1950s, garnished with a twist of national and sexual politics, and served up as an entertainingly lethal cocktail of genuinely compelling characters and superb storytelling.

Having now seen "Ray's Candy Store" in its sensitively directed and performed production at Metropolitan Playhouse in NYC, it confirms my initial impressions from reading it: it is a beautifully written play which works on so many complex levels at once, yet remains wonderfully focused and clear-eyed in its storytelling; it's a lovely, touching piece.

What a gut-wrenchingly gorgeous play. Salant's grasp on his characters and their heartbreak is true, and he's infused them with both anger and humor: they're wonderfully human. It's a cliché to say this, but: I really laughed, I really cried, and the play really became a part of me. It's a universal story, beautifully told.

If God does exist, let's hope he's as chill as the dude Rossi has created in "What Melvin Bought for This Week's Game Night." If, of course, the dude actually is God? Who the hell knows? And that mystery is part of the fun of this hilarious short play. After all, when God is summoned by asking a Ouija board, you kind of get what you deserve, no? Funny stuff to ponder.