Recommended by Mackenzie Raine Kirkman

Haller's piece is so organically femme and provides three roles you can tell are true friends. It's a fun virtual play that would make any audience feel like they're sitting in on a friend group's virtual hang. Most importantly it shines a light on taboo and often secret conversations femme people have about their bodies, their lives, and their desires.

Though McCarthy bops us around Jo and Haywood's ages the narrative is so well crafted it feels linier in the most exquisitely theatrical way. There's lots of room here for two strong actors to play to beautiful subtext McCarthy leaves in the pauses and from the paint to dress the visual impact of this play is really something I'd be eager to see. It's truly a fantastic but painful piece and one that I think really represents to be "nonconforming" in the South and, more importantly, the impact that has on the spirit.

This piece is almost dangerously charming. Within the first few pages I found myself saying, "Now that's a good line" out loud. Kantor spins us around the automat machine full of fun and enticing choices and then makes it gut-wrenchingly clear that sometimes the choices make us and there's nothing to do but make our happiness in the consequence.

Syran does a wonderful job here not only writing a play that brings to life two charming characters but also accomplishes the far greater task of keeping Euripides and Socrates from seeming like statues. Instead, they live and breath in this piece and within the brief moments of the play they manage to frame for us the central tenants of how they both viewed art. Syran's particular shining moment here is how The Bacchae is discussed and a clever insight to what Euripides was doing, or trying to do, with his final piece.

The Divorce Lawyer's Love is a charming little two-hander; a unique high stakes scenario with comical beats that hint at a far deeper story just below the surface. Dakutis gives us just enough about Charles and Emily to make them real, then hints at so much more about their mannerisms and past which creates a piece two adventurous actors would have a lot of fun experimenting with.

Barn Wood and Blue Roses is a play full of incredible opportunities from the imaginative design possibilities to the chance to discuss a wide range of difficult topics children often have to face in silence. Floyd-Priskorn's piece is full of charm not only in its characters but in its dream-like use of fantasy and flashback that perfectly mimics make-believe games we all played when we were young.

Beyond being a charming piece I think the biggest thrill of this piece is that Josephs' skillful writing makes it seem as if this piece truly is from another time. It's fun, theatrical in its use of time and pacing, and very informative!

Strangely apt for the current moment, Zaffarano presents us with two nerdy (and neurotic) lovers and expertly weaves them through farcical props, speedy exits, and charming moments of connection. Hotter Than Thoreau beautifully exhibits those exhilarating first moments of connection with someone new.

The Ammo Box paints a tragically beautiful picture of love and loneliness. Telling two very different stories in a series of letters and monologuing Swenson bends time and reality to show us a family struggling with generational trauma and depression and the noble effort to over come it and support each other.

Plumridge adds just the right amount of magic to this piece alleviating a bit of the painful tension the subject matter brings to mind without making the piece insensitive to the atrocities and violence hinted at throughout. It's a wonderful short play with a truly invigorating and surprising ending.