Recommended by Doug DeVita

Although inspired by the poem “Untitled” James Baldwin, the poetry here is completely Lamedman’s. This experimental montage captures all of the feelings that come with any change in the weather, whether it be joy, fear, sadness, longing, etc…, and they are all expressed with a beauty that pierces right down to the soul. I’d love to see this staged, as there are so many possibilities for quite the theatrical experience.

If this is an early draft… Jesus! It’s already pretty tight! Larson expertly weaves all the various threads of one family’s life into one compelling story, but never loses sight of her central character Lark’s journey; her determination to make her life her way fuels the entire play. Both intimate and theatrical, it’s a wonderful read; I’m looking forward to the further development of this very moving work.

Fathers. Sons. Loss…

The hovering inevitability of loss drives this haunting two-hander, a full-length kept beautifully spinning throughout by its genuine depth of feeling, sure sense of direction, and most importantly, its raw, emotionally honest depictions of the father and son at the center of the piece. A wonderfully touching read, I imagine in performance there won’t be a dry eye in the house by the end.

Scott Sickles can write romance with the best of them, but nothing in his work so far quite prepared me for the delicacy and genuinely moving depth of feeling waltzing through this elegant and lovely work. Beautifully handled, right up to its surprising, emotionally satisfying conclusion. A gorgeous piece, one of Sickles’ best.

Holy Shit! Kelly McBurnette-Andronicos has written a wonderfully creepy and surreal “Northeastern Southern Gothic Noir,” her wildly theatrical sense of the absurd firing on all cylinders here. And in “FLORENCE “BUNNY” MAYBRICK aka MISS CHANDLER” she has given us a fabulously worthy heiress to all those fabulously eccentric heroines Tennessee Williams (with a slight nod to Giraudoux) made so irresistible to actresses (and actors) as well as audiences; I so want to see this performed!

I love how Bernstein so effortlessly writes about the intersection of politics and culture; of all her work I’ve read so far, THE LEGEND OF TOMMY TREMAIN may be her most cogent. Early on I was drawn in by this line: “You are everyone who lies without recognizing what a lie is and does.” Powerful stuff right from the start, and the play just keeps escalating from there. It’s a thought provoking, angry, necessary work, completely deserving of both the praise and recognition it has garnered thus far, and completely deserving of a wide audience.

A clever idea for a musical, hilariously spun out with some pretty sharp political satire, jabs at contemporary society, internet and musical theater in-jokes, and a healthy tongue-in-cheek sense of itself and its darker edges. I imagine when staged it will be an audience pleaser, and a lot of fun to boot!

What bloody good fun, and how much more fun would it be if this were actually performed as part of the “London Walks” tours? Plummer knows the geography, the history, and the drama of the neighborhood, and tells it in a most inviting way with two charming, if dead, characters – which makes it a perfect walking tour candidate. I’d certainly take it the next time I hop across the pond.

Yup. Of course right. Every Word. Every single one of ‘em. And I loved ‘em all, especially the convulsively funny last ones.

Brilliant. Who’d have thought a mail-order box of clothes could trigger such a hilarious orgy of self-sabotage? A funny, touching, pointed, and spot on piece from Richter with one of the most endearingly quirky pessimists ever put in front of a mirror. One wants to scream “Take the whole box, Mark!” (Maybe one did?)