Recommended by Adam Richter

That whole business about "Thou Shalt Not Kill" gets an early and brutal test when a Viking vampire attacks a Medieval English church. This short play has great tension, horror and blood (so much blood!) but it's the exploration of that early concept of sin that makes "Barbarian" linger in your mind long after it ends. How did early Christians reconcile Jesus' teachings with a dangerous and brutal world?
Read and produce this play. Audiences need to be challenged with it.

No matter how old we get, children never really let go of the scars they received as kids — whether from the playground, the school or their own family. Philip Middleton Williams shows us just how close to the surface all of this is in this wonderful two-hander that would be a gem for any pair of actors to perform. Excellent job!

I think it's safe to say no one will ever fall asleep — or eat — on a train again after watching Rachael Carnes' wonderfully absurd and (for one audience member, anyway) cringey short play about the nature of existence and where the hell you find tzaziki sauce. Read this play, produce it and for the love of all that is good in the world, don't wipe your greasy hands on the upholstery.

This sweet, lovely, romantic comedy goes horribly wrong in the span of a minute, and the results are hilarious. Matthew Weaver has a gift for turning seemingly conventional situations on their head in ways that are surprising and fun, even when (spoilers) the characters may not survive.

Robin Berl gives us a powerful meditation on grief, fear and coping in this domestic two-hander that isn't REALLY about how to fold a fitted sheet (but still kind of is). An excellent short play that would be a cinch to stage.

I think one of the worst aspects of the COVID pandemic was how helpless so many of us felt, and Jeffrey James Keyes' heartbreaking monologue brings that helpless feeling to life. This solo piece is touching and poignant in the way it forces us all to ask the same question as the protagonist: What would have changed if I had done things differently?
Definitely a piece that needs to be staged once live theater happens again.

Finally, someone has come along to update the classic garden-gnome-loves-girl story. Scott Sickles' delightful fantasy play is a playground of fun dialogue and language and a hilarious take on what happens when the villagers rise up to destroy the witch in their midst.

This short play is uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time, in addition to being one hell of a good science fiction story. A beautiful two-hander that deserves to be staged often. I would love to see this in person.

I loved this heartwarming tale of a woman and her one-person chorus, who's just the perfect amount of pushy. A fantastic addition to any 10-minute play festival. Brava!

In this short comedy, Emily McClain dissects with surgical precision the fraught nature of LGBTQ children and the parents who refuse to fully accept them. She adds an undercurrent of suspense because halfway through the argument over whether or not the couple should travel to Italy on the dime of the homophobic in-laws, you start to wonder: Is this the fight that ends Kellie and Sarah's marriage?
This is a great exploration of parent-child relationships, of marriages and how far we are willing to go for each one.