Recommended by Adam Richter

On a general note, I love how Jack Levine makes space in his plays for older actors. In "Skateboards and Blueberry Pancakes," he shows that age may be just a number, but at some point in life it's an important one. Nothing turns out quite the way you expect it to, and that's what makes this play so fun.

A delightfully wacky and sharp absurdist comedy that takes aim at our need to consume things (even bouncy things). This would be a hoot to produce and would be a great addition to any 10-minute play festival.

A concise, disturbing look at the corrosiveness of online life.

This is a poignant and beautiful play about fathers and sons, and how parents adapt their expectations for their children. Philip Middleton Williams deftly takes a familiar subject and gives us something completely original and unexpected. And as a former baseball fanatic, this play reminded me of what I used to love about the game.

I loved how Jack Levine put up obstacle after obstacle for Eric, then — WHAM! — pulls the rug out from everyone, including the audience, sending the play in a completely different, yet plausible direction. This was lots of fun to read and would be great to see on the stage.

Sometimes the most erudite questions require the simplest answers. In Steve Martin's beautiful one-minute play, he deftly tackles issues of mortality and living in the present. I would love to see more of Win and Tim in other plays.

How do you forgive someone who's committed a horrific act? How do you find redemption if YOU are the one who committed said horrific act? These are the questions that lie at the heart of this thought-provoking and unexpectedly tender play. Scott Sickles doesn't try for the easy or pat answers, but finds answers that work for Cady and Wolfgang.

What I loved about this play is how DC Cathro shows us two characters in a shallow (and somewhat mean-spirited) conversation, then turns the whole thing on a dime into a new direction, without once letting up on the wit or depth of the characters. This is a funny and tender play that gets to the heart of why we find the people we do.

This is a dark comedy with heavy emphasis on the comedy. The interplay between Byron and Charlie, two polar opposites as brothers, is grounded in reality yet incredibly funny. I also like that Emily McClain doesn't let up on the jokes in the play's final moments. This would be a great addition a short-play festival.

Duncan Pflaster's play is a fantastic satire of life under authoritarianism. While its heroes are brave and admirable members of the resistance, the play also serves as a brutal reminder of how easily we can adapt to it and rework our lives to adjust to the "new normal." I would love to see this produced on a stage.