Recommended by Doug DeVita

Yeah... no.

Please, no.

Read the play to realize why this is a positive recommendation.

And then join me in saying NO!

“...a letter regarding a disturbing past” is only the beginning of the horrors unleashed — subtly but with mounting tension — in this exquisitely disquieting monologue from Hansen. One hopes this particular letter gets lost in the mail at the same time the realization hits: it doesn’t matter. The die is cast. *shivers*

The Gods truly must be crazy. Or bored out of their minds to decide to host a Universal Drag Ball on the order Lee Lawing has dreamed up here. But what a dream it is: surreal, absurd, and hilarious, with beautifully dark undertones. Throw in Joan Crawford and Clark Gable in drag, and, well, just wait until Clark takes off his slinky gown and reveals...

Uh uh. You have to read it yourself to find out. Seriously, read it. And someone produce it.

Tense and claustrophobic, Susan Middaugh's compelling short drama HEADLONG INTO THE ABYSS captures the sense of terror rising as swiftly and surely as the flood waters while a man and his elderly, immobile aunt are trapped in the attic of her home during Hurricane Katrina. The horror is real, the feeling genuine, and the ending... I guess it isn't spoiling anything by saying it's hopeful.

This play by Heather Meyer is so beautifully written it takes on a life of its own completely apart from its source material, and in the process it becomes its own unique animal. Every single word is so perfectly chosen, every single character is so perfectly wrought, and every single moment is so perfectly placed the cumulative effect is almost overwhelming in its contrasting epic sweep and tragic intimacy. Simply stunning.

There’s always a sense of dystopia in Noir; no matter how slight, that sense of a world gone askew permeates the best ones. Christopher Walshe’s concise, riveting THE CITY AND THE CITY, based on the China Miéville novel, is about as dystopian – and DARK – as one can get. The unease starts with the first lines and continues building at a breathless pace right up to its thrilling conclusion. Terrifically paced and atmospherically written, THE CITY AND THE CITY is exciting, breathtaking, and stunning.

Eliot Byerrum’s THE ANGEL OF DEATH RISES EARLY fires on so many levels it's a virtual fun-house of dizzying thrills. Its complexity owes much to Wilder, Welles, and Hitchcock, and yet what emerges is its own animal, fast-paced and snarling. Chief among its (many) pleasures is Byerrum's protagonist, the troubled detective Isabelle McGuire. What a role for an actress to sink her teeth into, and what a play for her to drive. Dark, intense, at times tongue-in-cheek... this Noir has it all.

Before Bette there was Norma.

Norma Shearer was the top female star at MGM in the'30s, married to the boss, and with a pristine image completely opposite rising star Joan Crawford's more overtly sexual one. While Shearer's feud with Crawford may not have been as vicious or spectacular, it may have run deeper – more a resentment about personal freedom versus star power. Lawing presents Shearer's frustration at her husband's controlling every aspect of her life with brilliantly elliptical dialogue, and a portrait emerges in which nothing is black and white, but sharp and clear nonetheless.

One of the things I love most about Jacqueline Goldfinger's work is how she – seemingly effortlessly – creates entire worlds with her specificity of language and soundscapes; it's breathtaking, and on beautiful display in this unsettling, darkly comic work. Rich, imaginative, and ultimately touching.

Keri Healey’s TORSO is a modern-day Noir; the requisite plot twists and turns, as well as the rogue’s gallery of characters are all in place, but Healey adds another layer of complexity by shifting the sense of time and place unexpectedly, to exciting – and chilling – effect. Swift-moving, it’s a fun read I imagine will be breathtaking when staged.