Recommended by Jordan Elizabeth

This play left me with the deep questions I always hope to have after encountering a piece of theatre. The consequences of turning away from each other, from pain. The haunting nature of losses that don't make sense. The costs of choosing your own small needs over the large needs of someone who needs help. The ways we turn away. This collection asks us to look into the darkest places in our hearts, to stare our failures of love in the face. Oglesby uses theatrical magic (and magical thinking) to relive memory and try to make sense of loss. Stunning.

All I needed to read was "If Jeane Luc Picard and Ellen Ripley had a baby" as a character description to know that I would love this play. Partain plays with many scifi tropes in a way that feels fresh and immediate. The beauty of scifi is its ability to prophesy over our current conditions, and this is the case in MESSAGE OF PAIN -- it asks us to be present to now, as long as now lasts, and to accept that nothing lasts forever.

This play gives us the simple addition and subtraction of gun violence, through the eyes of a six-year-old survivor of gun violence. This play is tragic, gut-wrenching, and so, so necessary. In these numbers and in this boy's voice, we see the impact of gun violence on both its individual victims and on the entire community.

An incredibly beautiful, brutal short play -- the image of a tiered monument being watered by Love is so lovely; and the discussion between these three characters is necessarily hard, vulnerable, horrifying. Antone manages to give us statistics without the play ever feeling bogged down with them. The creeping shadow would be a beautiful project for a lighting designer; every artist involved in a production of this play would be thrilled with its meaning and its challenges.

A beautiful, haunting portrait of the vacuum left by the sudden loss of a family member to gun violence. The rhythm of the piece is exquisite, punctuated by Paul and Sara pounding on the table and by Reina replaying the voicemail. The tenderness between Paul and Sara -- each comforting one another in their own way -- touched a specific place in my spirit few pieces of art touch. This is a beautiful, hard, vulnerable piece of theatre.

Utterly chilling, and heartbreaking, and necessary. In the wake of the events of the last month (including, incredibly, a teacher a few miles from my home firing a gun at school) -- this monologue play is NECESSARY. Asher creates complex, engaging, enraging, extraordinary characters in his monologues, and TEACH is no exception. There is so much here to unpack -- from the title itself (TEACH: noun and verb) to the topic of discussion in the classroom (To Kill a Mockingbird). I was in tears by the end of these three pages. Because this is where we are.

What a wonderfully weird, delightful short play that keeps you guessing moment by moment -- with an ending that will leave you with conflicting emotions. It's so wickedly funny and such a big bummer at the same time: which ultimately means that Perlmutter made me care about these characters in such a short space. A great, fun play for an artistic team.

A beautiful, haunting look at the cyclical nature of civilizations: war and violence begetting more war and violence, all in the name of "progress" and "salvation." Balancing the work of a Christian missionary alongside the life of a journalist was a nuanced, deft stroke: the ways that we believe we can save individuals, countries, ourselves. Ultimately this is a story about hopes deferred and lost; it will break your heart and cast a bright light on these turbulent political days.

Absolutely chilling, and hauntingly beautiful. Carnes uses rhythmic, poetic repetition to draw us close to the truth and horror of the world these characters inhabit. Aching memory and aching hope intertwine in a striking, heartbreaking way.

This play is so much fun. Biting satire of the "aesthete's" life -- it's absurd, confrontational, hilarious, and fun. Three actors would have such a blast nailing the rhythms of this piece.