Recommended by Doug DeVita

Darkly atmospheric, rich in period detail, and intensely gripping from its first lines, by telling Nellie Bly’s story through the eyes and point of view of Anne Neville, an inmate in a mental institution, Mark Loewenstern creates an immediacy and sense of horror that creeps up on you and is hard to shake long after having read the play. Dynamite roles for women help make this an excellent, provocative work, and one I’d love to see staged.

What fun! What beautifully dovetailed, over-the-top, campy, dirty fun. The puns and the in-jokes pile up faster than the snow in the White Queen’s world, and the whole thing moves like lightening; on stage it must be even more breathtakingly fast and funny, a sure-fire audience pleaser, and probably as much fun to perform as watch.

The puns, literary and otherwise, don’t stop in this fast and funny mashup of Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, and H.P. Lovecraft. Clever, witty, and wonderful on so many levels, my head was spinning in delight just from the hilarious use of both the name and word “dickens” alone – that Dakutis keeps the joke aloft with as much ease as he juggles the rest of the work is a testament to both his skill and imagination. Smashing good fun!

A quick, brutal strike at the heart – with a precise hit. A palpably precise hit. Another stunner from Monica Cross, one of the most inventively acute playwrights around.

While we’re never told how exactly horny ends (is it with ie? Or ey? Or simply y?), what’s clear is that most likely it ends with a bang. This is a fun two-hander (pun intended) that both titillates and delivers.

When things go wrong for Margo in the film “All About Eve,” she shrugs and quips “One of destiny’s many pranks.” If only Dave could say the same. Nonetheless, this romantic comedy is magical and engaging from beginning to end; one feels for Dave, and yes, Destiny too, as they work their way to their own destinies, romantic or otherwise.

This metaphorically smart fable pulls no punches; while it is absolutely delightful, it is also absolutely horrifying in what it says about the dangers of idiots in positions of power. And that it works for audiences of both adults and children alike is just the icing on its substantially theatrical cake.

Oh my gosh, this delightful monologue grabs you right from the first lines and carries you along on repeated gusts of macabre hilarity for the entire ride. I loved every single, laugh out loud word, and now I want a piece of Mince Pie and a glass of Sherry. Read this for the pure pleasure of it, and then produce it for the pure pleasure audiences will derive from it.

FOOLISH is William Shakespeare as focused through a J. Chavez lens; the Shakespearian wit, plotting, and poetic language are all here, as are contemporary versions of his characters, but it is all sublimely Chavezian in its edgier execution. Epic in every sense of the word, this is a wonderfully dark comedy; by turns gleefully hilarious and heartbreakingly touching in its lyrical callowness, it will provide a field day for directors and actors when it is staged. And I hope to see it when it is.

Brief, brutally bitchy, and brilliant.

And spot on.