Recommended by Ken Love

A dystopian parable that speaks directly to our current dilemma with an honesty that is downright frightening. Like Samuel Butler's "Erewhon", Paris Herbert-Taylor's "Pax Terra" shows what results when unchecked technology and the lust for power merge. Nicely done!

I'm certainly not the first to step up to the plate and offer my recommendation of this work. In fact, who's to say that Mr. Sickles even needs it. However, the current dilemma demands that I make my praise for this deeply incisive short piece - Scott Sickles "Drain" - known. And let me add that it is unfortunate that this work is not only relevent, but its circumstances highly plausible. Yes, unfortunate, a word that I do not use lightly.

We get many plays and stories about killers - serial and otherwise. Yet rarely, if ever, is a writer willing to deal head-on with the families of such people. Marilyn Ollett, with "Hidden Victims", bravely takes that rare glimpse into the privates lives and thoughts of a killers siblings, two sistes who clearly have demons of their own to contend with. Riveting from beginning to end.

Like Arthur Miller's "The Crucible", Don Baker's "Trade With Klan" is a disturbing and emotionally devastating metaphor/commentary which, though set in a bygone era, speaks with a crushing honesty to our current dilemma. Read this play and stick with it until the end: the final scene will literally tear your heart out. I long to see this work performed!

Thank you, Asher Wyndham, for this satirical eye-scratch to our current administration and sorrowful dilemma. This is what the American theater needs now more than ever - a cold slap in the face to the despicable powers that be. Nicely done, sir. And brave! Yes!

"Alone?" is a beautifully rendered parable on the supposed finality of loss and heartbreak. Rachel Feeny-Williams talent lies in her ability to wrest such subject matter from the trap of cliche and banality. Nothing feels forced or deliberate. Nicely done!

Well, we've experienced sketch comedy. Perhaps we should look into a new "genre" and call it sketch "horror"! Dana Hall, with her short piece "Boogie Man", just may have fired the opening salvo to something new and thrilling. Nice work!

Ah, yes! What a lovely snapshot of a magical moment in time between two siblings. Donald E. Baker's "Cardinal Visitation" shows pain and healing between the two characters. I sense that the piece could be sung rather than spoken. Nicely rendered.

Yes, the time is 1997. Yet the given circumstances are timeless. In fact, Donald Cooper's "Doors Are Closing" is so "in the moment" that it borders on hyper-realism. It's every passengers nightmare. Kudos!

As we attempt to navigate our way through this difficult time, I am certain there will be many writers stepping up to the plate to give their take on this current dilemma. In my mind, few will succeed. And this is the very thing that makes James Perry's "The Time-Traveling Assassin" so special. Incisive, witty, heart-felt. Nicely done!