Recommended by Alexander Perez

Lanao’s “COVID play” nimbly avoids the trappings most pieces that tackle current events face. The circumstances are merely a backdrop to the human drama unfolding as these three interconnected but distinct couplings navigate the present and reconcile their pasts despite looking down the barrel of the most uncertain future humanity has ever faced.

A kinetic, tender, and engaging one-person show that juggles an impressive implied ensemble with it's "coming- of-age-before-you-grow-up" story which paints an all too real portrait of autistic youth on the verge of adulthood. Whatever your passion, be it theater, music, finance; we've all been "Bob", we all know an "Alex".

Osmundsen deftly navigates the fine line between cautionary tale and morality play. Hard lessons are learned, growth is achieved, but harm is done.

To that end, how many of us never would have learned to swim were if not for the threat of drowning?

A deeply resonant, thrilling, and hysterical train ride through both America's heartland and the annals of it's absurd history. Our would-be heroes confront not only the solemn task before them but also the relative lack of impact it would come to have on their cause. Through wit, courage, and a sage level of restraint, "the beautiful land i seek..." further excavates our existence's most pressing questions;

Is the act of martyrdom an exercise in futility?

What value does present sacrifice offer future generations if they never know you exist?

Were they just speaking Spanish?

The Manhood Games is a madcap cavalcade that takes toxic masculinity to task over the course of it's brief but jam packed run time. Clever directors and fearless actors have a spectacular opportunity to give audiences plenty to laugh about but even more to chew on after the curtain falls.

This delightfully dystopian docu-comedy details a world humans are torn from our lifeblood, our engine; our coffee. In 10 meticulously crafted pages Fleischer builds a fully realize apocalypse by way of clever flashbacks, ensemble shenanigans, and constant laughs.

A guaranteed home run for large groups in need of a winning comedy.

Herrera's unflinching breakdown of the pernicious cycle of self-image and eating disorders as run through the infinite negative feedback loop of family gatherings, societal pressures, and flirtations with the abyss. Personal, wry, and intimately harrowing narrative aside, what I love most about this particular piece is it's exploration of what food seeks fill and it's abject failure in that mission.

This goes beyond self-control, it's a battle for your mortal soul.

Slash stuffs it's brief runtime to capacity with moments of romance, joy, terror, and hilarity. Throughout it's almost "Cabin in the Woods"-esque deconstruction of this classic slasher set up, de Forest dexterously finds genuine tenderness and discovery between its leads; Even as the distant screaming creeps ever closer.

A creative, economic, and hilarious short!

A fantastic historical drama with a unique theatrical flair. Boyd's inventive structure takes what could be a lofty exercise in exposition (especially for folks not familiar with the history) and makes it not only didactic but wildly entertaining. The piece also has the potential for a tour-de-force performance for it's leading lady. Between passionate bouts of poetry, blurring alliances, and the ever present threat of widespread violence, the heart of this play lies in the tragedy of witnessing a movement becoming what it once opposed and the beauty in continuing the fight for a better tomorrow.

Two sisters negotiate and grapple with an eleventh hour revelation from their ailing mother with delightfully entertaining results. A shotgun blast of sharp, biting humor with family bonds (barely) keeping it all together.

Lohne's grown up spin on the childhood classic miraculously evades any contrivances by sticking to the ingeniously absurd, yet tragic coda they've constructed for the story we all heard as children. As wacky as it is genuine, this sits among the better modern day adaptations/continuations of an older property I've had the pleasure of reading.