Recommended by Doug DeVita

This is a wonderful little jewel of a play! Lermond effortlessly creates ¬– and sustains – a terrifically atmospheric sense of time, place, and mood, and her two characters are so beautifully lost that when it becomes clear they’re about to be found by each other, you just melt with happiness.

Melisa Tien chronicles ten years in the life of Boyd, from age 11 to 21, as he grows up in a rural American town during the chaotic years between 2011 – 21. This is an extraordinary work that both touches and angers; Tien perfectly captures the awkwardness, creativity, and later hopelessness of a boy with limited ambitions trying to find his way in a country that embraces the ambitious and wealthy. Tien surrounds him with equally disarming characters, giving them all terrifically natural dialogue and situations to play while making quite a powerfully moving statement about their options.

John Busser has let autocorrect dictate the direction in which his script goes, and predictably it goes into some hilariously inappropriate, surreally absurd places – even for Busser. And yet somehow it all hangs together. Bravo, John, for this inventive experiment, and for the result. While I don’t necessarily approve of giving that ducking autocorrect the upper hand, in this case it works; I needed the laughs.

Small town politics in rural Alabama come in for quite the drubbing in this side-splitting yet ultimately touching comedy in the Frank Capra-esque vein of 1930’s style screwball social satire; one can see all of Capra’s stock players inhabiting the roles, while still imagining how it plays in contemporary terms. Absurd situations, convulsively funny lines, and over-the-top but nonetheless human characters all combine to make this a delight from beginning to end.

Only from the mind of Rachael Carnes could we get this delightful send up of Bigfoot, Community Theatre, and Anthropomorphic Plays. Me like. No. Me LOVE!

As someone who has sat through “Einstein On The Beach” far more times than he ever intended (Oh the things we do to keep a spouse happy), there’s not much I can say about this three page, three act musical except it’s a Goddamn perfect work of genius and I loved every pretense-slamming word.

Two dogs watching – and commenting on – a dog show on television? Yes, please! Especially when the dogs are as pithy, witty, and lovable as Lucy and Ruby are in this anthropomorphic delight from Lee R. Lawing. But what gives the play its edge is Lawing’s understanding of both dog and human nature, and the commentary about both he employs with a gentle, if implacable, hand.

Hypnotic, lyrical, magical, and deeply, deeply moving, this short play is like a disturbing dream from which you nonetheless do not wish to awaken. Beautifully crafted, its four characters haunt with their interconnected wants, needs, and histories. I’d love to see this staged; while it needs very little in terms of its physical production, it’s a field day for a lighting and sound designer, as well as for its cast and director. So many opportunities for them to sweep us all up into their story.

Oh what fun! What dark, inventive, smart fun! And the screams! Those screams! They’d be worth the price of admission alone, although I can imagine a trio of actors having a field day with the whole charming, hilarious piece. And it leaves you wondering whether having a lifelong scream affliction might just be worth it for a weekend in a motel with BigAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Just who are the monsters in this lethally dark comedy? Carbajal masterfully plays with our expectations, throwing in some really funny belly laughs to keep us off guard, and then pulls the rug out from under us with swift, terrifying aplomb. A terrific work, with great roles for three middle aged actors. I’d love to see this staged!