Recommended by Eric Pfeffinger

This very human, deeply felt period piece -- about same-sex love in the face of bigotry and self-doubt in 1930s Wisconsin -- is partly a moving reflection on how tough things used to be, but also a sly warning that the roots of intolerance still run deep.

Stories about characters who neurotically cocoon themselves against the contagion of the outside world are nothing new, but this play does an absorbing job of mapping that idea onto relatable family dynamics with dramatic tension and pitch-black humor.

This play's preoccupation with violence against women makes it eternally timely; the erotic agency it assigns its characters makes it thrillingly complicated; the audacious theatricality of its imaginative fantasia makes it dizzying. The language is fantastic, the opportunities it offers for theatrical design are copious, and the play's implications are chewy and provocative. The main difference between Red Riding Hood and other girls is that Red only had one wolf to worry about.

I don't know if this satisfyingly diverting short play has enjoyed a bump in popularity since David Bowie's passing, but it deserves attention: an appealingly quirky collision of personalities, more idiosyncratic than its unapologetically high concept suggests. Especially producible if your company includes a young male actor with an ethereally sexy charm.

This is impeccably written comedy; the play may seem deceptively unassuming in its modest scope and Aristotelian unities, but the rhythms and pacing of the dialogue are expertly deployed with ruthless precision. Two great roles offer actors the welcome combination of great laugh lines and unexpected depths.

Perpetually timely, and such an involving and engaging plunge into a fully realized community... well-made and organic all at the same time.

There are few things as satisfying in a straight-up comedy as when lies and misunderstandings careen into a pile-up of hilarious proportions, and that's what happens in Washer/Dryer -- a knowing comedy with high stakes (real estate! laundry!) and a cast that looks like people you know in the world, not just people you see in the theater.

This play does, so well, so much of what drama's supposed to do: it creates, with visceral immediacy, completely unimpeded vicarious identification with people from different circumstances in an entirely separate part of the world. A thoroughly uncompromising vision of what war does to people, but the experience of it is never needlessly punishing. A remarkable achievement that demands to be staged.

A culture-clash drama of good intentions gone awry and second chances derailed -- sensitive and surehanded and wise.

Audacious and unruly in all the best possible ways: an exuberant play that both flaunts and mocks its own erudition.