Recommended by Doug DeVita

In "Online Education," Liza Case has pinpointed the exact moment the American Dream became the American Nightmare, and it happened while most of the country was sleeping. One of the most chillingly accurate portrayals of how apathy and voting against one's own interests in the name of party loyalty has brought us to the terrible state of affairs in this country, "Online Education" must be read and produced. Often. And loudly.

Another powerful piece from Wyndham which quite literally took my breath away at several points by how surprisingly matter-of-fact he limns out the inevitability of his premise. A stunning, horrifying, heartbreaking, and tragic work.

What a charming, touching two-hander from Richard Lyons Conlon, with two wonderfully prickly, but endearingly human characters whose stories weave a tale spanning more than thirty years of love, loss, and regret. Terrific roles for older actors.

Well, this will be fun now that I've read it next week. I will laugh a lot at Busser's wit, and I marveled at how he kept all of the various time-traveling moments so clearly organized throughout. Mind blowing. At least it will be. Or has already been. I don't care. I loved this play yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

An angry Ghost Chicken, Cecil Cluck, and Dawn Notts (get it?) run afowl in a secluded place on a dark night, and the puns are non-stop. As are the laughs. Well done, Weaver!

In one-minute, with one word, Martin says everything that needs to be said. Period. And... BOOM!

All may be calm, but it certainly isn't bright in this melancholy, poignant, and gut-wrenching stunner from Scott Sickles. Okay, things aren't all that calm either, at least not underneath the surface, which is where this play lives. Every single line pierces the soul with the fear, longing, sadness, and hopelessness of two people who just can't bring themselves to face a rejection that's not going to happen, but believe will. Laced with many moments of bracing Sicklesian wit throughout, "All is Calm" is a holiday gift; perhaps not the shiniest, but certainly one of the most touching, and beautiful.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially when allied to the lack of a good education and deeply held, if bogus, religious beliefs. That Jo Brisbane has set her dystopian tale in 1954 just adds to the horror of "Rose Johnson And The Cathode Ray Tube," as she systematically points out how very little has changed in the intervening decades. A disturbing, necessary work, this play leaves one shaken and just a little bit more than terrified at humanity's rather dim prospects.

Short, sweet, and hilarious romantic comedy that plays with expectations – the character's, as well as the audience's – with scalpel-sharp observations and humor.

The strain of melancholy running through Stephen Kaplan's "Tracy Jones" gives this play its heart; it's beating, breaking heart. Kaplan beautifully balances offbeat humor with aching sentiment, and the result is a poignant comedy that touches one deeply.