Recommended by Doug DeVita

  • LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC
    28 Mar. 2021
    Charming and romantic, with two prickly but inevitably adorable characters any actors would give their eye-teeth to play, this is simply lovely from start to finish. Precise in its time and place, it is nonetheless easy to stage and deserving of its (many) productions. Maybe it's time for a revival?
  • To The Dogs (an old time radio play)
    26 Mar. 2021
    Noir-ish cops? A damsel in distress? A creepy old house off the main road? Mad Lesbian Scientists? Dogs? I’m so in for this hilarious spoof of old-fashioned radio drama, complete with old-fashioned commercials. (And oh, those commercials!!!) This piece is just so much wonderful, silly, creepy fun! And what fun for its cast and sound effects manager, too. Turn the dial, turn up the volume, turn down the lights, sit back, and enjoy.
  • How Dare You!
    26 Mar. 2021
    Things escalate quickly, and hilariously, in this short gem; what gives the piece its punch is how clear-eyed Augustin is about her characters and their wants and needs. One wonders how this couple will fare in the next six months, and that lingering question lends an air of poignancy to the comedy.
  • Curse of the Puerto Ricans
    26 Mar. 2021
    Filled with lovably endearing, if fractiously irritating family members, this play is a wonderfully contemporary model of the “family drama” genre. Sharp, funny dialogue, stakes which keep rising, and those aforementioned family members all bumping off each other like balls in an out of control pinball machine, along with that beautifully quiet, perfectly pitched ending, make Fernandez’ script a winner.
  • A Very Very Short Play
    26 Mar. 2021
    Rich in visual imagery, this very very short flight of fantasy is delightful. It’s delicious. It’s delovely. The possibilities for inventive staging are as limitless as the sky through which it so effortlessly soars, and it will leave you hungry for more. And cream puffs.
  • Agatha Christie's The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb: A Play for Live Radio
    25 Mar. 2021
    A good, old-fashioned, and wonderfully entertaining mystery thriller, Bob Cooner’s delicious adaptation of an Agatha Christie short story (featuring the lovably irascible Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot) captures her intricately structured plotting as well as her dry British wit, and perfectly suits the audio drama format. One can imagine sitting by one’s radio, breathlessly hanging on every word from its intriguing beginning to its thrilling conclusion.
  • A LITTLE LITERARY ANALYSIS - a monologue
    25 Mar. 2021
    Oh how I love this smart, funny, and spot on monologue. Weddings are always affairs of heightened emotions, and often cursed by inept speeches “honoring” the bride and groom. Or bride and bride. Or groom and groom. Doesn’t matter. What we get here works across the boards to both entertain and school, and does so in a witty, sparkling, and scintillating manner. A champagne toast to Monica Cross!
  • don't feed the bear
    25 Mar. 2021
    Will’s need to both repulse and curry connection is palpable in Torres’ wonderfully theatrical almost-monologue. Sharply, beautifully written, Will is a tour de force for an actor, a character who’s hard to love but also hard to resist loving. By all means, feed Will. Don’t feed the bear, but definitely feed Will.
  • Post Mortem Depression
    25 Mar. 2021
    What starts as a (possible) romantic comedy, complete with the requisite meet-cute and resistance, quickly turns into a pseudo horror comedy that gives one pause: who really are the monsters in this world? Alltop’s dialogue is by turns witty, funny, probing, and provocative, as are his characters. A fun piece with dark undercurrents, this would be wonderful in Halloween festivals. Hell, it would be wonderful in any festival, particularly one set in a bar.
  • Suffocating
    25 Mar. 2021
    Blunt, horrifying, and emotionally devastating. A tour de force for the four women playing Charlotte, the central character, and for the director lucky enough to be able to stage this theatrical, moving, and heartbreaking gem.

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