Recommended by Doug DeVita

Two hapless teens run afoul of the girl’s diabolically protective father on prom night. By turns it is both poignant and hilarious.

A perfectly crafted minute in which Arianna Rose finds all the longing and heartache attendant to an illicit love affair, and she does so without judgment – just an honest assessment of feeling. Beautifully handled all the way to its mic-drop final line.

Is there another writer as off-the-wall funny, inventive, and politically astute as Ian Thal? I think not. I love the risks he takes and the way he makes them pay off in this hilarious, but pointed short work.

In this taut, tense 10-minute, the future has become the present — and it’s horrifying. Panttaja’s script is excellent, if unsettling, and provides two great roles. Should be a staple in short play festivals everywhere, if we ever get back to normal.

The family dynamic lurches into this brave new world, dragging its old baggage along for the ride in Weibezahl’s bittersweet comedy written expressly for the ZOOM era. If this is just a weekly meeting of the clan, Thanksgiving is going to be a hoot!

This is such a beautiful play. Beautifully crafted, beautifully realized. And oh, how I want there to be mermaids for Cecilia.

Oh God, this play is a time machine back to those years of unrequited lust and questionable behavior regarding same – ie: college – and with the passage of time, it's now absolutely hilarious and charming. And spot on; apparently nothing has really changed in the 4... nothing has really changed in the intervening deca... years. And that's oddly reassuring.

The casualties of war aren't always on the battlefield, as Williams gently, but firmly, reminds us in this tender drama, which explores the effects of the Vietnam war on twin brothers who follow their calling – one to the MASH units of Vietnam, the other to Canada to study music – and he does it with such clear-eyed, non-judgmental passion one is never sure who is right, who is wrong, and ultimately, whether it matters? This is a moving indictment of the collateral damage of war, and a bond between brothers that, though damaged, can't be broken.

Ah, the self-involved impatience of youth! It’s the perfect foil to the gravitas of experience. And in the hands of O’Grady, it proves a delightful opportunity to pit the callow F. Scott Fitzgerald against the august Edith Wharton in a mismatch of wits — guess who prevails? Read this gem of a play and find out. Tea has never been so satisfying.

Greg Kotis’ darkly comic, anarchic spirit runs rampant in “Pig Farm,” a wildly funny cautionary tale. Kotis puts his targets (industrial food production, the federal government, American-hero types) squarely in his sites and fires indiscriminately, hitting bullseye after bullseye while never losing his absurdist sense of humor, and keeping everything spinning with his theatrically heightened language. Prescient, thought provoking, and yet delightfully entertaining.