Recommended by Vince Gatton

If you've known grief -- and who hasn't? -- you'll recognize immediately the yearning to share, to explain, to list and catalogue who this person was; and how this inventory of facts is an act of love, meant to keep a memory alive by sharing it. To distill an entire, beloved life into a gap in a prop's teeth is an impossible task, but the effort makes for tender, worthy drama, sweet and deeply moving. I Knew Him does something sad and beautiful and kind with this liminal moment at a stage door.

I hate this —- by which I mean I love it, but man, my stomach hurts. My sister is an ER doctor, and the reality of these conversations is a true horror of our time; yet the human drama at this play’s core makes it compelling far beyond the specifics of Covid-19. If you’ve ever had to have this kind of talk with your spouse in any context, you’ll feel this one in your bones.

Susan Ferrara's solo play THE WONDER is a gutting, hilarious, gorgeous, crushing account of the morning of 9/11, told in such a cockeyed, odd, funny, fragmented, and truthful form that it avoids every pitfall of sentiment or maudlin self-pity you might expect or fear. Zooming away from the unendurable big picture to focus on the tiniest, weirdest, and most specific details of the day, THE WONDER captures how our trauma response protects us and keeps us moving. The costume and prop concept is wonderfully strange, a visual effect that is as entertaining as it is devastating. A brilliant piece.

Much more than a biography of a shouldn't-have-been-forgotten artist, Susan Ferrara's BUZZ is a form-shattering exploration of a creative mind who did everything outside of every box. At once a history lesson, an evisceration of sexism in the arts, a rebel yell against organizational calcification, a love letter to collaborative artists, and an existential meditation on madness and death, BUZZ is as challenging, brilliant, and unforgettable as Buzz Goodbody herself.

I got to do a reading of this script a couple of years back, and I'm happy to say it's a delight. Palmer sticks tight to the original plot, but recasts these characters into contemporary groups and tribes that one wouldn't ever imagine colliding -- yet they do here, magically, creating satisfying and thought-provoking frictions throughout. Shakespeare fans will find themselves impressed and delighted with the adaptation's many smart choices, and newbies will enjoy a wildly entertaining ride on its own terms. Kudos also for capturing diverse aspects of Appalachian life and people that many outsiders don't know exist.

What am I, made of stone? I'm a sucker for wordplay and romance, and this short winner is loaded with both. It's a freaKen' delight.

I am a sucker for writing that sets itself this high a challenge bar and pulls it off. Nathan Christopher has given us a palindrome play: two scenes, where the dialogue in scene 2 is exactly the same as scene 1 but in reverse. That it’s even coherent is impressive, but Nathan Christopher achieves more than that: this dark, funny, sexy, charming film noir about Genesis is packed with allusion, allegory, and great character detail. Impressive.

Well, you think you know what’s going on here, but you’re very wrong. Immensely actable with multiple levels of tension that crackle and pop, this short piece delivers in unexpected and satisying ways.

A dynamite addition to the "family gathers for a funeral" genre that feels as fresh and exciting as if it were the first one. Humor and pain are the love languages of this family -- and boy do I love them, in all their hilarious, sharp, miserable and loving glory. The whole thing is wildly entertaining -- laugh-out-loud funny with perfectly punctuated gut-punches -- and every role is a gem. There's not one of these brothers I wouldn't want to play, and actresses will drool over the chance to play their unforgettable Mom. A very, very smart brain built this.

The physical intimacy of this premise, the extreme volubility of one of the characters, and (perhaps) your own baked-in story expectations contribute to building a terrific amount of tension here, tension that turns out to be no less real for having been so effectively misdirected. A fun and ruthless little journey.