Recommended by Doug DeVita

Smart and funny, with more than a shot of prescient possibility. This is top shelf stuff.

OUCH! It’s so true: after we type those words “End Of Play” and put our work out in the world, it becomes fodder for everyone’s opinion, misguided or otherwise. Unlike the hilariously pompous asses Middleton features in this hilariously pointed play, I’m of the opinion this play is a winner. It stings with truth. Infuriating, and hilarious truth.

An achingly tender play about loss, despair, hope, and love... and stars. Haas has a delicate touch here, which gives the play even more depth and feeling. It’s an absolutely beautiful work.

This is one the most enchanting Holiday-themed plays I’ve ever read. It positively sparkles with wit, like one of the smarter animated TV specials we grew up watching but with more invention and sense of playful fun. Oh, how I’d love to see it staged! Annually.

I saw this charming little gem tonight at Secret Theatre’s One Act Festival. A delightfully meta play-within-a-play-within-a play, there are laughs galore, a breezy sexual tension that heightens the comedy, and a happy ending for all concerned — including the audience. Wonderfully entertaining.

I saw this tense, terse play tonight at The Secret Theatre’s One Act Festival, and was quite taken with Carne’s multi-layered portrait of a hover mother trying desperately to keep the trauma of her past from feeding her fear for her daughter’s future. A truthful, moving, and timely play.

How strange that immediately after I read this, while I was recovering from the wild ride that is this play, I saw that Walt Disney's "Cinderella" was released 70 years ago today. (February 15.) As for O'Doherty's short take on the aftermath of a certain girl at a certain ball who married a certain prince... It's a wacky, howlingly funny charmer, with a darker edge than anything that was released 70 years ago today. (Despite that horrifying Stepmother. She doesn't appear in this. For a good reason.) A wonderful read, and probably even more wonderful when staged.

Like the accidents the two girls seek out in this horrifying-yet-funny play, it’s impossible not to look away as Osmundsen ratchets up the tension (and the laughs) to a somewhat inevitable but somehow still surprising climax. That we care at all for these two clueless girls is a testament to Osmundsen’s gift for creating sympathetic characters, no matter how heinous they are.

In 19 exquisitely written bullet points, Matthew Weaver elucidates 19 reasons why he’s a catch. He had me at #7 — although reasons 1 — 6 and 8 — 19 are pretty convincing, too. Somebody produce this soon, and get this charmer a slew of dates from which to choose a lucky someone.

I love mixing fiction with historical characters, and McCarthy's epistolary play is a wonderful romp, imagining what words might have been passed between three of Chicago's elite, circa the turn of the last century. With its simple staging requirements, its three actors are free to have a field day with vocal pyrotechnics. Good, bitchy fun.