Recommended by Doug DeVita

"Sink," part three of Alex Kulak's Father-Son Cycle, is the darkest, most emotionally shattering of the trio. Again, Kulak's dialogue flows naturally, beautifully specific to character, and builds the story to its intensely horrifying climax with ease. A terrific showcase for the two actors playing the toxic father and his damaged son.

This second play in Alex Kulak's Father-Son Cycle explores emotional repression in a broken family in rural Illinois. Once again Kulak displays a fine hand in dissecting dysfunctional family dynamics; his dialogue flows easily from his well-defined characters, and tells their story simply, beautifully, and with a natural, raw power.

A terrific political drama spanning decades, Kulak's take on troubled Father-Son relationships across two generations within the same family, is never less than riveting, and frequently heartbreaking. The first of three Father-Son plays, I'm looking forward to reading the next two in the cycle.

Eerily magical, Firestone's fantasy memory play packs a lot into its 12 pages, not the least of which is a rising line of tension that steadily builds to a wonderfully prestidigitatious conclusion.

A thrilling adventure ride through a dystopian future (or is it past?) with dark noir-ish tones, this is a relentless – and relentlessly riveting – work from Frandsen. Intricately plotted, with memorably drawn characters, this should prove to be a stunner when staged. Provocative, tense, edge-of-your-seat entertaining.

The weight of grief, burdened by inbred prejudices and hate, becomes too much to bear for Bronze, the central character in Kate Schwartz' heartbreaking fable adapted from Anton Chekhov's short story, "Rothschild's Fiddle." Intensely theatrical, and deeply moving, this is a wonderful play, with plenty of opportunity for inventive staging.

Short, sweet, and totally winning, this play lingers in the mind and heart long after having been read. Both characters are delightful, and together they create a memorable, non-sexual chemistry that drives the work forward with a wonderfully loopy, but sincere energy. I'd love to see this staged.

A truly magical work, stunning in its breadth and intimacy, inventive in its use of language, and filled with dazzling imagery – a theatrical work in every sense of the word. Beautiful, haunting, provocative, and as I said before, truly magical. I'd love to see it staged.

Another opulent period drama from Kenneth N. Kurtz, in "Chiaroscuro" Kurtz plays with light and dark as nimbly as the artist Caravaggio plays with his model's emotions and memories in order to get what he requires for his painting. Drawn in both broadly deft and intricately detailed strokes, the play builds like a rough and tumble dance of seduction, but who is seducing whom? Ultimately, it's Kurtz who seduces us, with the sheer sensuality of his writing and the dynamic, constantly twisting (and twisted) relationship of the two main characters. Great, dark fun.

Rich in atmosphere and period detail, Robert Weibezahl's "And Lightening Struck" recreates the world of Mary Shelley, and how she came to write "Frankenstein." It's a romantic, poetic, and intimately fascinating work, opening up a new perspective on an old classic, and the woman who brought it into the world.