Recommended by Doug DeVita

Vikings, Vampires, God, Faith, Horror... what's not to love here? Prillaman's bloody good short play scores not just from its steady air of creepy tension, but also from its author's incredibly visual sense of storytelling. A stage manager's nightmare, BARBARIAN will be an audience's delight. I'd love to see it staged.

Disturbingly creepy fun from the master of disturbingly creepy fun. And I'll forever be looking askance at Goldfish now – both the living and Pepperidge Farm kind.

Delicious, bitchy fun. And the final stage direction is the cherry on the arsenic-laced cake of Sicklesian merriment. Brava.

The maneuvering, infighting, backstabbing, and self-pitying posturing in national politics has never had anything on the political machinations behind the scenes in a theater company, and Emma Wood captures it all in this viciously sweet comedy. Sharply drawn characters and the age old conflict raging around what is commercial vs. what is art – especially at the holiday season – keep the action moving at a quick, fun, pace.

This touching, painfully honest work is an emotional roller-coaster ride through the first year after the death of a parent. A beautifully rendered three hander, poignant but not without humor, its two great roles for women and two great roles for older performers make it perfectly suited for theatre companies at all levels to produce – which they should.

A sequel (of sorts) to the classic "The Maltese Falcon," this is a nifty noir two-hander which both satirizes and honors the form, imaginatively and comically. Meeting 20 years after the events in the film, Brigid/Ann/Toni/Whatever-the-hell-her-name-is and Sam Spade spar with authentic noir authority, humor, and convoluted sensibility. Dark and fun.

In WATER CHILD, Emma Wood explores the pain of losing an unborn child with a sharp but sensitive scalpel. This is not an easy play to read; it is often so heartbreaking that it becomes almost as unbearable for us as it is for Jeannie, who at the age of 40 is suffering through her third miscarriage. Wood’s script, with its realistically drawn characters, offers no easy solutions, and while the play ends on a hopeful note, it is far from a happy ending, which gives the play its heft – and its vital, beating heart.

A docudrama that transcends its form with incandescent theatricality, Milta Ortiz' Más is a work that not only forces one to think but forces one to feel; if the combination is electrifying on the page, I can only imagine how potent this play is on stage. I'd love to see it performed.

Savage, brutal, and riveting. Perez has written a stunning work of non-stop rising tension, ruminative yet enthralling, horrifying and heartbreaking. A showcase for two actors, I'd love to see it staged.

I only have a few words to say about this play: beautifully, deeply touching, and a necessary, contemporary work of art. Highly recommended.