Recommended by Vince Gatton

A short reminder of how entertaining it can be to watch a predator play with its food.

Horror works best when it plays on real-life fears, and boy does Jillian Blevins understand that here, as she takes the anxiety, exhaustion, depression, and loss-of-self common to new motherhood and plays them out to a terrifying and heartbreaking extreme. Harrowing.

Look, you can enjoy this perverse little fairy tale as a satire of capitalism, sexism, ageism, looksism, sex as a weapon, sex as a resource, and, well, the ethical tradeoffs one makes when faced with outright starvation. Or you can just laugh heartily at the balls-out, savagely hilarious dialogue. Or you can find the whole thing unspeakably, unbearably sad. What you can't do, I predict, is resist it, with its great characters, hilarious execution, yummy twists, and strong, strong point of view. Dig in.

It's often said that good writing finds the universal in the specific, and Scott Sickles proves that point spectacularly in Punch Bowl. You'd be hard-pressed to get more specific than a meet-cute between two neurodivergent bears (including one specifically *Asian* neurodivergent bear) at a lesbian wedding, but I'll be damned if everyone on earth won't identify with their universal feelings of self-consciousness, longing, desire, and unexpected courage. Sweet, lovely, and witty as hell ("profoundly uncatered" had me from the jump), this short play magnificently showcases Sickles' bone-deep mastery of the short romance.

This would be depressing if it weren't so mordantly funny. Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend mines plenty of comedy out of our bleak state of planetary affairs: an alien, and angel, and a randomly-chosen human test subject each bring their own energy, perspective, and agenda to bear in a discussion of Earth's climate change situation. Safe to say we humans don't come off all that well, but the "Good Place"-esque dialogue sparkles and snaps to delightful effect. Program this short immediately so we can all share a good laugh before the polar icecaps melt.

This outrageous, goofy satire, chock-full of absurd comic flourishes, nonetheless manages to ask sincere and meaningful questions about the clash between personal and corporate ethics. The satirical targets here are clear and ripe, the questions about civic responsibility in a ruthless capitalist system are on point, and the personal journey is...well, a delightful surprise. A great opportunity for both gonzo comic performances and serious thought. Funny, sweet, and scathing.

This is America in the 21st century...and this is marriage. An almost unbearable conversation, made simultaneously worse and better by the wit and sharpness of the dialogue. Erin Moughon speaks directly to one of the worst aspects of The Way We Live Now, and does it with heart-wrenching frankness and enormous amount of love. A haunting and urgent short play.

This moving and refreshing drama focuses on long-haul truckers and the people who love them -- their interpersonal conflicts, economic pressures, culture clashes, and ever-present dangers...but also their joys, their humor, and the callings they feel drawn to for more ineffable reasons than money. Max Gill beautifully draws us into these lives, creating full-blooded characters who might defy your expectations. (Did you know about the boom in Sikh truckers? You do now.) There's a lot to think about here -- about how we get the things we depend on, who's doing that work, and what it costs them.

As is often the case in Prillamanland, Octavia is both deliciously right and horribly, horribly wrong. The characters are vividly drawn, the dialogue crackling, the stakes suitably high; and when the power shifts and counter-swerves arrive, they are unexpected, icky, exciting, and unsettling. Prillaman knows uncomfortable truths about the human condition, and is unafraid to play them out. We are all better for it.

The Exorcist meets It's Alive meets Desperate Housewives in this hilarious horror comedy about post-partum challenges, the vagaries of maternal attachment, and all the material and sexual jealousies that can lurk behind the neighbors' windows. Plus there's a hot priest. (And if you get a little something more out of it, too, something about the peace that comes with taking a leap out of the life you know in order to find your right place in the world...I'm betting that was 100% intentional.)