Recommended by Ken Love

I was raised in the Black Pentacostal church, from which I can only harbor bad memories. Then I read Fabiola R. Decius' "Black Jesus" and I was soon able to laugh at it all. Like Christopher Durang's "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You", this plays focuses on the absurdity of religion, namely Christianity. Like Mr. Durang's play, Ms Decius' work is light comedy, satire and - ultimately - quite dangerous. Which is the kind of theater that I love!

The best thing about Michael Towers' "Target Practice" is the dialogue. It stings, engages and elicits well earned laughter. A play is truly good when, at the completion, you only wish to know more about the characters, who were so dimensioned and well-drawn that they seemed as familiar as the teaches and coaches we knew in high school. Nicely done, Mr. Towers!

Mike Byham's "The Well" gives us two characters spending the last few moments of life on earth, enthralled by one another, yet distant enought to weave a compelling end-of-days story that the couple seems to revel in as they tell it. The audience will not want the world or this story to end for wishing ever so fervently to spend more time with these people. Heartbreaking, yet wondrous.

Dark. Dystopian. And all to relevent and fitting for our times. Mildred Inez Lewis' "Louisiana Shoal" is a parable on choices made in the extreme. Yes, the ending is tragic due to the utter inevitability of it all. I missed seeing this piece in performance. Yet I, at least, had the good fortune to have read the play. Well done, Mildred!

A memory play, a tortured love story. "Once Upon a Smorgasbord" is another play by Miranda Jonte in which I heard music as I read it. Sweet music which wasn't twee or "sentimental". I felt the humor and pain expressed by the main character. I even felt a gentle early winter chill that comes just at the end of fall. And the tempting smell of food was well expressed in the writing. A lovely work!

What's said . . . what is unsaid . . . what shouldn't be said . . . in polite company. Even sisters have to step very, very carefully amongst themselves. Like the haulting dialogue that runs throughout the play, the three sisters seem to have an ardent, near urgent need to express themselves politically. Yet hold back for fear of inflicting pain. Ironically, that's where the humor lies. Definitely a play for our troubled times.

What begins as a hilarious send-up of death soon transitions into heartfelt yet biting social commentary. Of course, what ultimately gives this piece its momentum is vivid characterization. And the memory play device (expressed through the prologue and epilogue) only add to the plays appeal. Mr. Norkin has given us a theatrical gem on par with Herb Gardner's "Conversations With My Father". Nicely done, Mr. Norkin!

I know a monologue is well written when - while reading - I'm able to actually experience it. And hear it. And long to see it performed by a capable, engaging actress. When "Between Hellgate and Long Island Sound" finally gets a production, I hope that the playwright, Nora Louise Syran, will give me a heads up! Kudos!

Like "Riders to the Sea" by John Millington Synge, Jean Paul Sartre's "No Exit", and the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca & even Emily Dickinson, Maggie Smith's "Winchester Geese" is a play that takes a hard, nearly uncompromising look at the finality and tragedy of death. While the conundrum of death has been tackled and overdone by playwrights, novelists and poets ad infinitum, Ms Smith, fortunately, has the nerve and talent to add something unique to this well-worn topic. A must-read! And a must-see! Nicely done, Maggie!

Like the movie "Fatal Attraction", James Perry's "Manslayer" is a snapshot of every married man's nightmare. The one difference is that the film lacks Mr. Perry's customary wit. Nicely done!