Recommended by Doug DeVita

The '60s style sex comedy is alive and well and more hilarious than ever in Arthur M. Jolly's "A Very Modern Marriage," a very modern, very funny take on the grand boulevard comedies of yore, and as welcome as a long cool drink in an arid desert. The one-liners don't stop, the situations become ever more ludicrous, and the desperation mounts like clockwork, all to wonderfully amusing effect, and all rooted in Jolly's absolute belief in his characters and their journey together, a belief and a journey we share happily, and with laugh out loud glee.

I was already enjoying "Tightrope," Emma Goldman-Sherman's play about falling, when about midway through, BAM!, one line made me fall head-over-heels in love with it: "You keep a knife in your cleavage?" This short play is a high-wire tension act of marvelous depth, speed, and dark humor, with terrific roles for women. Magical, wonderful, and smart; I'd love to see it staged. So many creative possibilities.

All the primal fears of childhood concerning the truth about parents and family situations permeate Lee R. Lawing's surreal, often frightening, and always fascinating "Rooster Poker." The sibling relationships are clearly drawn, the parents are as beautifully confusing as parents often are to their children, and the tension (as well as quite a few laughs) rises steadily to the kicker final scene, with another neat twist at the end.

“You’re Not The Type” is Julie Weinberg doing what she does best: mining insecurity for comic gold, and in Vivian Lande she has created one of the most outlandish, outrageous, and obtusely hilarious divas in her canon. That she makes her sympathetically vulnerable is also a Weinbergian strength, and the contrast is delicious. And funny.

I love this play; Weinberg dissects family dysfunction with expert precision, and there is so much comedic truth in every line one can’t help but both gasp from the shock of recognition, and howl with laughter at how brilliantly she nailed it.

A disparate group of delayed travelers, whose travel from JFK to London Heathrow has been delayed due to inclement weather, pass the time by bonding and enacting 6 "Canterbury Tales" in this delightfully modern riff on Chaucer. As I said in my recommendation of one of them ("The Fable of January and May"), Rinkel's funny, saucy rhyme schemes surprise with disarming and charming twists, and are perfectly suited to modern ears and mores. Wonderful work.

Gorgeous. That's all. Just... Gorgeous. <3

Haunting, disturbing, and with beautifully crafted characters, "Comes A Faery" has a lyrical edge that lingers long after the play has finished. One is fully invested in Siobhan's story and believes in her from start to finish, truly yearning for this child's happiness.

Daly's "Far North" is a harrowing excursion into the far recesses of memory, a cautionary tale from a "woman of a certain age" to a newborn that stings and breaks your heart. Written with a beautiful economy of words, it's a great monologue for an older actress; for the rest of us it's a thought-provoking 15-minutes that lingers far longer.

Four monologues that tell a complete story, moving backwards in time and peeling away the layers of damage done to a child (the grown up Charlie in the first monologue) by the deadly effects of his parent's sham of a marriage. Harrowing, heartbreaking, and written with a strange, corrosively beautiful urgency which keeps one turning the pages, unable to look away. As any compelling wreck will.