Recommended by Doug DeVita

Goddamn, high school was a horrible experience for Richard and Jeff, and the memories are imbedded deep into their psyches. Williams not only touches on their lingering wounds, he digs at them, tearing open long hardened-over scabs with force. An exorcism of a sort, Williams displays a darker world view than usual in this work; whatever Richard and Jeff may have learned from confronting their memories, he leaves no doubt the cycle will continue, and it is vicious.

One of the things I love about this play is how Cowley turns the old and familiar upside down simply by introducing an object heretofore known only through an old black & white photograph; when seen in all its vividly colorful glory, questions arise that can never be answered, and a wistful sense of loss becomes real. A lovely, probing, touching work.

Kim E. Ruyle writes great roles for older actors, giving them pithy dialogue and setting them in thorny situations, and while there is a glossy wit on the surface, their conflicting emotions bubble underneath like acid. This is a sharply written work, and should be produced. Often.

This series of interweaving playlets, structurally interesting and ultimately all of a piece, is a charming romantic comedy as well as a moving, hopeful treatise on aging. With wonderfully relatable characters and some really funny one-liners and situations, this could be a real crowd-pleaser wherever and whenever it's performed.

Aside from how wonderfully insightful Asher's monologue is, what really makes it soar is that this is a teen-ager talking to her mother, and not the other way around: a truly lovely, meaningful twist that deepens the emotional resonance of the piece.

Oh, this is SO. MUCH. FUN! As author Mark Harvey Levine says in his synopsis, "it's Shakespeare's famous play, but funnier and with less stabbing." But it is so much more than that: it's a smart, inventive, hilarious, and actually quite faithful spoof of HAMLET, and it stands on its own as a delightful piece of theatre on its own quite substantial merits. Oh, how I would love to see this staged!

Matt Harmon's GOAT SONG is a terrific, painful, funny, heartbreaking, wonderful nervous breakdown set to music, and raises the bar considerably for both digital drama AND musicals. Read it. Watch it. (Link below.) Love it. Hate it. Feel it. All the feels. Especially excitement for the experience of something so original, fresh, and provocatively entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XWtVgGWrLw&ab_channel=AlleywayTheatre

One of the things I like about Charlie Stowe's work is his utter fearlessness. And in MEDUSA IN RHAPSODY (Work In Progress), his freewheeling, anarchic style is in full-throttle. Not everything works, but it doesn't matter because the risks this young playwright takes are glorious, and he hits more than he misses. I'm really looking forward to seeing how he develops and corrals this wildly over-the-top, often wildly funny piece.

This is a sweet, touching musical with a classic score (really lovely songs); its story of a love that was lost, and then found decades later, filtered through the lenses of two class reunions 25 years apart, gives the show an interesting structure. It also has a lot to say about aging gracefully, adapting to change, and living one's life to the fullest. I'd love to see this staged.

LOVE. THIS. PLAY!