Recommended by Jordan Bird

The final line of this play made me shiver: a chilling pronouncement about the value of life, the things we're willing to crush to be comfortable, the cost of the "American dream" taken to its most extreme end. THE TOWER asks us to pause, listen, and question what we know -- not only about "Mrs." (and the journey she represents), but also about privilege generally.

How is it possible that I have tears in my eyes after 7 pages??? Bykowski has such a strong, unique voice -- I could read this play blind and know it was hers. These characters leap from the page and make you want to touch them. FLESH, BLOOD, & GLASS gives us a simple and beautiful metaphor for the anxiety of parenthood, but Bykowski doubles down by weaving in male privilege and male suppositions about the strength of a woman's body. I love this freaking play.

Huszcza packs so much into this short play about fertility, fanatic religiosity and its economic repercussions, and the roles our culture assigns to women. Theses two characters are boiled down to two things: their hobbies, which become their names, and their gigantically oversized pregnant bodies. The horror of the world of this play is that it's not so far-fetched.

Romantic, simple, and full of beautiful movement -- THE TRAIN would be such an exciting project for a creative team to build the world of this play together. It's rare to find such sweetness juxtaposed with all of the hustle and bustle of mass transit/technology, and Pynn puts them into conversation together really brilliantly.

Lovely and loving, SKATING is a heartfelt, magical story about surviving your first great loss, at whatever age that happens. The pond becomes a sacred space in the natural world, blending the spiritual and the deeply earthy and physical so that they seamlessly melt into one another. Infinite possibilities for staging for a wide variety of creative teams, Adams' play would make an equally charming low-budget staged reading at a school or at a large venue with the budget to bring magic into reality.

Utterly chilling, disarming, horrifying, and deeply important to this moment in our country's history: Renee Calarco has put a spotlight on what we are becoming as walls grow ever higher. Participating in this immersive experience would be actually life-changing in a way very few things are. I expect to see productions of this popping up everywhere in the coming years.

Combining humor and themes on immigration, AN ALIEN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is absolutely precious, hysterical, and so important. Guyton underscores what so many in the younger generation already understand: that hospitality and safe-haven are some of the things that truly make America great, whether the immigrants come from Australia, Sweden, or another solar system. A terrific play for a large cast of kids; and though this is a TYA piece, children and adults alike will get a lot from this smart, funny play.

This short psychological horror play is SO MUCH FUN. The setting and setup calls to mind Stephen King, but Ford makes the genre her own in such a satisfying way. With a subtle cat-and-mouse interplay and terrific exposition, this is a play about survival strategies, consequences, and the borderland between truth and lies.

A play full of music, movement, poetry, and deep, deep beauty, HOW ARE YOU CALLED? is a story about heritage: the things we forget, the things we long to remember. I desperately want to see a production of this piece.

A funny but extremely chilling look at the way racism, sexism, and gender politics are being discussed over the Internet: with the anonymity that the virtual world presents us, we cease being human and cease seeing others as human, as well. A really brilliant satire that melds science fiction and contemporary politics. Gosh, I love Matsushita's work.