Recommended by Vince Gatton

A beautiful piece about isolation, need, and the different kinds of passion that can connect us. When a new client approaches a virtual sex worker with an off-menu request, what starts as awkward comedy takes a turn and something unexpected and wonderful occurs. What a gorgeous piece of work where three simple words, "I know it", can be so full of meaning, and can illicit such a rush of feeling. As an actor you long to get to play a moment like that; as a reader it gives me goosebumps. This play is lovely and necessary and so welcome.

Personal and political terrors combine with heartfelt adolescent yearning in this first part of Scott Sickles epic alternate-history/scifi dystopia trilogy, a story deeply layered with oppression, suppression, love, humor, and human connection. Two boys find each other through heavily-censored letters across the divide between the USA and the newly-formed Confederacy, their internal family dramas heightened and exposed by the ugly turns the world has taken. Both families are made up of gorgeously vivid and complex characters, who make good and bad choices as they each carry their own private burdens. A knockout.

What a joy this play is: funny, acerbic, wise, and kind, with terrific roles for older actresses as a pair of aging superheroes. A delightful staging conceit lends theatricality and physical comedy to a story that explores what being special means, how one's purpose can change over time, and what gifts we have to contribute to the world that we may sometimes overlook. We may not all be super-powered like Maria and Dominique, but their sibling dynamics are super-relatable and very human.

In circumstances heavy with sorrow and trauma, DC Cathro gives us a story that pops with humor and life. Waking up in a graveyard is exactly what Sarah wanted NOT to do, but here she is -- and it's all gabby stranger Miranda's fault. These two young women haven't had it easy -- not in life in general, and definitely not in the last few minutes -- but their prickly, complicated chemistry is a joy to behold. A beautiful, funny testament to resilience, connection, and what we owe to each other -- even, and sometimes especially, to strangers.

A vampire and their mortal lover face a relationship crisis in this very funny comedy, which steers its high concept in a refreshingly sweet and soulful direction. A relatable domestic spat with an amusing ghoulish twist, this short play cunningly transforms into a lovely meditation on aging, time, the persistence of love, and mortality as a source of meaning. Witty, charming, and lovely.

A terrific blend of dystopian political allegory, family drama, and highly theatrical absurdist theater, Lisa Sanaye Dring's __________ // ________ // ___ or Louisville // Kentucky // USA fires on a lot of cylinders. The Louisville references ring with authenticity (RIP Hillbilly Tea); but the play is built to be customizable to any blue city in a red state, where the complexities of life on a political island become personal in the pressure cooker of this speculative-future premise. Terrific character and dialogue work keep the flights of theatrical absurdity grounded, funny, and moving. Lots to chew on here.

Damn, Justin Aaron Halle is not playing around or pulling punches. Macht Frei is a scathing, emotionally brutal, highly theatrical cris de coeur against, yes, fascism, but moreso against complacency among those who should know better. Savage and righteous at once.

Sure, yes, they’re hot air balloons — but they still have feelings. This backstage comedy about three vintage Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons has snappy dialogue, sharply-defined characters, and high emotional stakes. In addition to the (hilarious) lampooning of actors’ egos and petty jealousies, Hot Air also gives us some real talk about aging, obsolescence, and what gives life meaning as death approaches. A funny, sweet, and sad existential comedy that stares into the void. The show must go on, right up until it doesn’t.

Adam Richter writes with such wit and compassion, creating flawed yet love-worthy characters who are painfully aware of their own failings. Here the challenges of fatherhood take center stage, as a beleaguered dad makes a tired show of scaring off the monster under his kid's bed...but then the monster actually responds, and it becomes another thing entirely. Really funny and as salty as it is sweet, I want to give this monologue an arm punch and say: you're doing great.

An excellent addition to the subgenre of two-handers wherein a seemingly chance encounter between strangers reveals itself to have hidden agendas. Michael O'Day has a terrific ear for dialogue and character; this funny and increasingly tense scene turns a harsh eye on misguided ideas about manhood, and what growing up is and isn't.

(Also, I love it when the meaning of a title reveals itself in a nifty way, and such is the case here. Mad respect for that title.)