Recommended by Alexander Perez

Herrera proves himself a master of unease and the sort of horror that can only come from within. Trauma, regret, and sorrow coalesce into a singularly nightmarish journey through varying states of consciousness. Morning comes eventually, but is it just another dream?

Death is the end is the beginning is the end is the beginning again.

A hysterical absurdist romp that takes to task aesthetic, status, and the hollow nothings we fill our days with in a (mostly) futile effort to break free of the perfectly beautiful and agonizingly mundane merry-go-round that is existence.

A tightly constructed epic that pits ambition, talent, destiny, and grit in a no holds barred battle of wills. Gonzalez's would be champions are phenomenally constructed contradictions that use their battered minds as masterfully as they throw fists. When all is said and done, one must wonder if winning is the same as victory. By the time the final bell rings out, it is evident that there are much more pertinent dangers to overcome than the other guy in the ring.

A razor sharp comedy that treats it's subjects with equal parts care and abandon. Even with such difficult themes at play, there are painful laughs and moments of tenderness to be had in between the psych ward flashbacks and gnawing regret.

An expertly crafted dramedy that basks in the glory of tormented family ties in the face of everything left unsaid. The love is as strong as the hate. So strong is the hate that it turns into love again. This play takes no prisoners and cares not if it's sublimely timed tonal shifts give you whiplash. Buckle up buttercup.

A lovely piece that pushes the heights of the "less is more" philosophy that drives the heart of every successful short. Not only does this piece bring to life previously unknown (to me anyway) historical information, it also serves as a heart wrenching tale of betrayal, dismissal, and reconciling past hopes with the bleak reality that follows.

If you ever attended theater camp as someone who wasn't "lead" material, let this be your trigger warning for this piece. Only Small Actors sucks us back in time to when the cast list for Bye-Bye Birdie Jr. meant the difference between life and death, when Theater Camp politics could break your spirit, when love first blooms and it's not quite what you expected it to be.

This play, like the theater, hurts as much as it offers hope. People grow up, but do they change?

A magnificent analysis of personal boundaries and familial love that questions our expectations of our loved ones and what, if any, compromises should be made to keep them in our lives. Osmundsen’s characters fumble and trip over each other’s needs with clumsy care, cutting deep where they don’t mean to, and struggling figure out how they can make it all okay again. A fascinating collision of desires.

An intimate steel cage match of beliefs that overlap, collide, and deceive as what should have been a nice evening among old friends devolves into conflict as ideological resentments and shocking revelations bubble to the surface. When all is said and done however Diaz-Marcano still finds a path to reconciliation amidst the carnage and scorched earth. A testament to our capacity for forgiveness and an important reminder that not all is lost.

A superbly crafted misadventure that goes off the rails in ways hysterical and surprising. Mesri's hybrid slang and reverse translation are the stuff of genius. Not since A Clockwork Orange has a natural patois melded so effortlessly with a text. The characters are so vibrant and specific to their own desires that even amongst the deconstruction of language context is never lost but rather elevated to heights never before possible with mere English. There's so much to unpack here in regards to cultural identity, patriotism, colorism, and masculinity. A fascinatingly dense opus that isn't afraid of a happy ending.