Recommended by Vince Gatton

Love and frustration flow both ways in this compelling sibling drama. My Brother Jake wears its True West influence with full self-awareness (Shepard's play gets cited at length by one of the twins) but you'll also find echoes of Amadeus here, if the Salieri were actively discouraged from even trying to compose. It's a moving story of the ties that both bind and chafe, the spectrum of experiences that make up the spectrum, and the need to live fully and take risks in the one life you've got.

A premise so inspired, I'm actually mad at it; a premise so well-executed, I'm downright furious. The hilarious unhappy-customer scene is great on its own, but the wordless drama happening with poor Fred off to the side takes it to a whole 'nother level. Deliciously dark hilarity.

Is AI stupid, or is it just judging you? Either way, the struggle is real. John Busser squeezes every bit of comic juice out of his premise (and sprinkles it with delicious hat-tips and homages for those in the know). Hilariously delivers on the title's promise.

"Write the play you'd want to see". Well, Michael O'Day has written the play I'd want to see, so precision-engineered to be pleasing to my particular tastes I'm jealous I didn't write it myself. Two middle-aged hunters and three young campers from a queer interfaith retreat get lost in the woods; when they band together to find their way out, hijinks & hilarity ensue, yes - but also rich characterizations, lessons on spores, heartbreak, and an encounter with the truly uncanny. Beautifully done.

Scott Sickles' The Battlements is a lot of contradictory things at once: gorgeous, ominous, unnerving, and charming, to name a few. A sweet, unsettling, sorrowful, and beautiful story of how the proximity, threat, and memory of violence steers the lives of two wary strangers in a strange land. The Korean setting and language are specific and inviting, the use of music lush and emotional; most winning of all is the disarming dialogue that draws us in to these two immensely likable characters. 브라보

Craig Houk’s delicious knack for redneck repartee is one of my absolute favorite things, and that gift is on full display here: A Robert Altman movie’s worth of diner denizens cheerfully muddle through one very peculiar day, with disturbing and hilarious results. Underneath the barbs and shenanigans, you’ll also find an allegory about institutional rot - showing how dumb ain’t harmless, and good intentions and benign neglect can allow poison to fester and grow.

Nancy Drew meets Charles Busch meets Mel Brooks in this bonkers sunny-noir high school psychodrama. And honestly, who couldn't use a bonkers sunny-noir high school psychodrama these days? David Hilder has served up a heaping helping of camptastic, splendiforous madness, with jokes so stupid you know they're smart. (And vice versa, honestly.) Prepare to cackle, and groan, and cackle some more.

Complicated, hilarious, sad, and argumentative, full of love and weighted with history...is it all of contemporary American Jewish life, or Jillian Blevins' SCHNOZ?

Why not both?

Sara's struggle with weighty body-image issues, ethnic stereotyping, and cultural baggage are embodied here in the wondrous Babushka, whose zingers land with unerring accuracy - whether in Yiddish or English. Deep and difficult thoughts here, hilariously and sensitively rendered.

I'm aware that I use the word "delight" an awful lot, but there's really no other word for "Thanks for the Mammaries!" -- this may be the most delightful life-altering office meeting ever committed to the page or stage. I dare you not to be delighted by Bailey Jordan Garcia's vaudeville schtick-y anthropomorphic boobies, and the sincere coming-into-oneself their story represents. I root for Bailey the character and applaud Bailey the writer in equal measure.

There is much ado about a ham here, but of course in the end it isn't really about the ham. DC Cathro's subtle yet explosive marital drama demands an immediate re-read, if only to admire how skillfully he scatters breadcrumbs into his disarming, naturalistic dialogue, subtly guiding you down an emotional path that justifies its blisteringly righteous conclusion. A bracing lesson in perspective.