Recommended by Asher Wyndham

An unexpected topic for a monologue -- the placenta. Makes you think about the disgust and objection that people have to something (not just placenta) that's so natural and how, unlike non-Western cultures today and long ago, don't have a ritual for it or appreciation-- again for something so natural, also sacred, beautiful. This should be considered for your solo festival on pregnancy or women's bodies.

Wow! One of the most endearing plays with an animal character that I've read in a long time. It has a poignancy like you would find in Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree that will stay with you long after the reading. This powerful story -- it's not just about the loving relationship between dog and master from puppy days to dying days, it's comparable to human relationships -- would have a big impact on an audience, adults and kids -- appropriate for all ages.

I always expect the unexpected from Weaver. With this monologue he gives us his most unabashedly political piece of theatre -- maybe his only directly political piece. This experiment in writing proves playwrights don't need to begin with character or even plot -- words (in the case of this play words beginning with the letter W) -- can create a play and create character and plot. Raymond Roussel and all the experimenters after him, esp those of Oulipo (if they were alive!) would applaud this. This is a smart choice for any festival on political themes.

This monologue WOW, flawlessly captures the voice of a boy enraged at life, his mother's new BF and the BF's son. What is remarkable is that the playwright doesn't judge the boy, doesn't offer a life lesson, doesn't sanitize, lets the boy reveal his emotions uncensored -- in doing so, it feels so real, uncontrived, and most definitely relatable to kids like him. If performed at a school near you, this will get some laughs, but also offer some discussion about how kids can handle new family situations like the one described in this monologue. Bravo!

Lovely! Through the eyes of poet H.D., a passionate affair with another woman, experienced intensely through shared appreciation of poetry and film, revealed to us with evocative poetry, that it's like some spiritual journey of two souls entwined. One of the most impressive imagistic monologues I've read on NPX . A smart choice for any festival on lesbian themes.

What is remarkable about this writing is the world-building on a language of body and desire, sensuality and skin and breath between two girls. With evocative imagery as singular as anything by Erik Ehn (stage directions last a page long), and dialog that feels so spot-on even when it's awkward, this playwright shows a relationship in reverse -- and creates an unexpected spectacle of pure sexy joy! This is a dream come true for lighting, media and sound designers!

Most gun control plays take place outside the yellow tape, far from the scene of violence. Burdick's play takes place within this space and, surprisingly, it's where you find beauty, empathy, and humanity -- and hope that we will get through this, somehow, together, hand in hand. Highly recommend this for your staged reading or production on gun control.

This monologue, from the perspective of a Biblical character that doesn't get enough attention, is just perfect for your church service during the Christmas season -- it can be staged right on the church's stage in the middle of a priest or minister's sermon. This should be shared with anyone that wants to bring some theatre with an important reminder to the faithful in December.

This will wreck your heart. Rios captures perfectly that painful stasis after the death of a love one -- in the case of this play, inspired by true events, the loss of two family members to gun violence. The words sent heavenward, the character's holding of her own body, the sadness on display is such an authentic display of mourning, it's immediately felt in the body, in the heart. A perfect choice for any staged reading or production on gun violence.

Taps into that anxiety, that tension in the heart, that desire for something different beyond the domestic life for many women of a certain age. Even today, nothing has changed, many women's lives here in the US and abroad are structured by patriarchal constructs. A physical monologue, a performance piece for stages anywhere, traditional or found spaces, everywhere, any nation, any culture, any city. A solo perfect for any theatre interested in showcasing feminist voices.