Recommended by Vince Gatton

So, listen: I'm the villain in this monologue. I'm the coulrophobic. And for the record and in my defense: it's not because of Pennywise or Poltergeist, it's a visceral thing that predates both -- but we can get into that later. To the point: Occasionally people write really great stuff that makes me see and/or think about clowns, despite myself. (See also Adam Szymkowicz's brilliant and triggering Clown Bar.) In RESPECT THE NOSE, Monica Cross has written a witty, moving, and entertaining cris de couer/rallying cry/showstopper that demands my admiration, heebie-jeebies be damned. Respect, Cozymittens. Respect.

Well, this is entirely my jam: charming, funny, sad, horrifying, heart-warming, and filled with awe and wonder. The characters are so distinct and well-drawn, the exposition so deftly handled, the scope of the reveals so expansive, the emotional impact so strong...it's like Elizabeth Keel studied my brain to know what I'd find most all-around satisfying and put it down on the page. Brava. An absolute winner.

A life of quiet desperation, on the cusp of something transformative. Or maybe...not. If drama lies in characters making choices, GULF nails the assignment, capturing Ellis at a moment where their whole life balances on a knife's edge. Miranda Jonte's natural, almost casual dialogue deftly conveys worlds of heart-catching history in few words, and works in hushed contrast with the hugeness of the moment. She also provides a Rorschach test for the viewer: is this a tragedy? Or the start of something magnificent? We're left to wonder and to guess, but not to decide. Haunting.

There's magic in the everyday stuff - and everyday in the magic stuff - in Aly Kantor's exquisite Odd Songs for Odd Birds. A snuggly vintage sweater of a play about secret weirdos finding their place, it's packed with enough wit and droll sarcasm to keep the sweetness from every becoming cloying, and mind-blowing revelations delivered with the gentlest touch. This is a gorgeous story of homegoing and belonging, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

I have mixed feelings here: one the one hand, this is a very funny, very fun short that would absolutely kill in a short comedy festival; on the other, I now know that I've been targeted, likely my whole life. There's no other explanation.

And once you know something like that, you can't un-know it.

Thanks, Mandryk. Thanks a lot.

Well, this is a wonderful addition to the holiday play canon, all the more so for being a portrait of lack and struggle. (If you pick up echoes of Mary and Joseph's punishing journey that precedes the Nativity, I'm gonna guess that's at least a little bit intentional.) Their lives may be marked by instability and want, estrangement and loss, but Danielle and Warren love and yearn, and crave and miss, just like anyone; and in this fragile moment of respite they achieve a tender grace.

Also: an exceptional example of deploying a title to maximum effect. A+.

Christopher Soucy trains his eye on several hot button aspects of contemporary American life, in a police interrogation scene that upends your expectations and gives your ethical assumptions a workout. Tense, complicated, and indicting.

Funny and disturbing on multiple levels, Carbajal's A Play with a Door does what good absurdist stories do: unsettle you with an uncanny premise, then shake you with the all-to-real, all-too-human ramifications. In the canon of plays about marriage, this one does a tremendous lot with a few simple ingredients and a short running time. Packs a squicky punch.

One desperately wants to see this produced, if only so one can relish hearing repeated RP-pronounced intonations of the name "Dirty Gimlet".

And to reiterate, affirm, and assert the importance of the Oxford Comma.

Five stars. No notes.

I know a script is really good when I find myself reading it aloud -- when the rhythm and music and sometimes just plain dumb glory of the dialogue compels me to speak it and hear it and play every part. Such was the case in my reading of the charming HEIST!, in which two incompetent criminals take a big swing at a big score...and try to pivot as it all goes predictably wrong. Billy the Kid and Gene Wilder may suck at jewel theft, but they're experts at stealing laughs. A delight.