Recommended by Doug DeVita

I love cheese. I love Asher Wyndham. The combination of the two: c’est les époisses de mes rêves!

Well this excellent play is a short, quick stab to the gut. Davila creates an entire world in a few deft strokes, and populates it with extraordinarily real, tough, and heartbreaking characters. Give it a read; it will shake you up and haunt you, as it should.

At what point does one stand up for themselves even if it means giving up what they desire most? In a smart move, Dave Osmundsen tells the same story from two different vantage points set in two different eras, and the impact is a double whammy. I particularly liked how he deftly mixed fact and fiction, expertly blurring the lines between the two to create the two concurrent worlds. A timely play with great roles and opportunities for a highly theatrical production; I'd love to see it on its feet.

In "Ferret Ran Away," Dave Osmundsen has taken a scalpel and ripped beneath the surface of familial relationships to truth, lies, and each other with caustic but humorous precision. A tour-de-force for two actors in their late-teens/early twenties, this thought-provoking play haunts as much as it heals.

This is one of the most beautiful, tender, and perfect short plays I’ve experienced, and yes, I mean not just read but experienced. A cathartic work to be savored and loved for everything it says about life. I’d love to see this performed.

Stephen Foglia’s use of language to paint his story, his characters, and his action is extraordinary, and gives his winning “The Dog Museum” an additional sheen of beauty. Highly recommended.

Another stunner from Hageman. With its crisp, taut, effective horror steadily building to a gut-wrenching climax, there's not a wasted or misplaced line or emotion from beginning to end. Terrific roles for teen actors, too.

Angry, didactic, and gut-wrenching, in “JOEY... A TEN-MINUTE PLAY” Loftus pushes all the buttons and unleashes all the feels with knife-sharp precision. Written entirely in direct address, he juxtaposes cold hard facts with the experiences of a child and his mother who have been separated at the US/Mexican border, and the never ceasing questions they have about each other, questions they will never have answered. It’s horrifying and heart-breaking. Pay attention to the carefully choreographed staged directions, which tell as much of the story by their chess-like patterns as do the characters. A brilliant, unsettling, unfortunately necessary play.

I saw a production of this at the Fresh Fruit Festival in New York, and laughed for the entire playing time. Clever, witty, and hilarious, McCarthy's take on Shakespeare's "12th Night" played like gangbusters; it was never less than breezily entertaining, and it was frequently inspired. By Shakespeare, by the '60s, by the mob, and by McCarthy's daffy comic aesthetic. How wonderful!

"Life is a root canal; the pain is unbearable at times..." Best. Line. Ever. Well, one of the best, especially in the context of Gacinski's unrelentingly gritty two-hander chronicling the co-dependency of two talented but fucked up musicians, one of whom is desperately trying to clean up her act. Harrowing and gripping throughout, and not for the faint of heart.