Recommended by Jordan Bird

I love Alexa Derman's plays, and GIRLISH is another gem. This play perfectly embodies all of the feelings of anxiety, danger, and sexiness of being a fifteen-year-old girl. Marti's clutch on the comforts of her past mixed with her desperate fear of being left behind felt so real it hurt; and Windy's leaps toward -experience- are so real, normal, and frightening. GIRLISH is really funny, really sad, really spooky, and really honest. Derman is making very exciting, utterly unique theatre.

Beautiful, and horrible, and tragic, and empowering, and gorgeous. I love her. I love Driver. I love Bed ("Is this what it means to be soft?" is a line that will stay with me for a long, long time). SLUT is full of tension and conflict, both in the action of the story and the affect it had on me: I didn't want this play to be over, but its pace is flawless; it has left me feeling devastated yet empowered. Everyone, everywhere: please produce this play.

Gonzalez guides us through twists and turns in this short gem of a play that has nuance, depth of character, and a haunting quietness. I love the way form parallels theme here: the characters deceiving the audience at the top; the deceptions of the unseen spouses; the way the Man and Woman deceive themselves and each other. Perhaps my favorite part is the magical thinking these characters participate in: conversations they wish they were having with someone else; a romance between them that remains perfect because it is never fully-realized. There's so much to consider in this short play.

I have a personal rule to steer clear of religiously-themed Christmas plays; I make an exception here with Weaver's FLIES AT THE NATIVITY. He's got an exceptionally weird mind, and I love where he takes these characters. The elephant trumpeting at the end is super funny. Fun from start to finish (unless you've got a queasy stomach).

Femia crafts deep characters with quick brushstrokes -- like looking at a rich painting that you want to figure out. Her work is an invitation to slow down and look closer. Froggie and North are perfect foils for one another, a classic conflict between magical thinking and realism. The conversation about the sinking of the Titanic grounds this short play, moving us fluidly from the emotional distance of colossal loss to the immediate, specific, hard reality of losing someone who you thought you understood. Truly moving and lovely.

There's a lot to love in this funny, tender play about being seen and feeling alive. STUPID GHOST is a play to read and reread -- it's hilarious and so fast-paced that you'll be dying to find out how it ends; but it also invites deeper, slower consideration about what it means to be alive, what it means to move on from the ghosts of lives we've abandoned, what it means to really see another soul. Totally charming. Totally wonderful.

So cute!! A funny concept executed perfectly, in true Steve Hayet style. Oh the ways parents subtly (and not so subtly) try to influence their children's lives.

Bleak and hilarious, ROUND ONE is a great little play about commitment, compromise, and experience. The bit about Mark making the creepy cake-topper himself pushed me over the edge from chuckling to laughing out loud. A terrific short play for three actors with great comedic timing.

FEROCIOUS. This would be a fantastic audition piece: this character is fierce, a little deranged, and in absolute control of herself and her surroundings. Super fun. I love the women Partain puts onstage.

Gorgeous, heartbreaking, and immediate: BARS AND MEASURES walks the line between worlds, blurs them together, and separates them again. The final moment of this play is inevitable, and the impact took my breath away. I hope I have the chance to see a production of this someday soon. A must-read.