Recommended by Ally Varitek

This play is funny and sad and horrific and beautiful. I always adore the coming-of-age of the secrets we are too afraid to say out loud. Parker Gray’s deft slaloms between wit, boldness, and vulnerability provide playground for both actors and their audiences in this play. It only helps that he is artistically savvy and lovely to work with. The dialectic and physical landscapes in this play are also rich & a designer's dream. I fell in love with the characters’ quirks, gasped at their mistakes, and cried at their endings. I cannot wait to see this produced!

Other recommendations touch on the genius of this playwright's poetry, and so I'd love to uplift the rhythm of the language in this piece. Pacing and poetic verse work together in this play with a deeply empathic slam. The increasing speed and intensity generated by the arc of this narrative offers a feeling both jarring and honest about the realities of mass incarceration for Black youth. I saw this piece multiple times at the OOB Festival as a festival coordinator and can't help but also highlight how heart-forward Darius is as a playwright. A must-read and a need-to-see-again.

Ches' character charms in this poetically crafted exploration of gender fluidity through childhood nostalgia by Elise Wien. I encountered this play in the spring and yet still find myself myself contemplating the parallels between swimming and gender fluidity. I would really encourage actors looking to venture into solo performance work and also any creatives interested in gender identity to check out this piece!

Oh how I loved this read! Hypotheticals explores the intersection of dating and neurodivergence in a way that is so fresh and original that I giggled my entire way through this read. Just like your favorite TV show, each character feels fully developed in a way that is uniquely their own, and Nguyen's lived experience and expertise with neurodivergence and psychology makes this play as truthful and relatable as it is charming. I read this for Wild Imaginings' Epiphanies Festival and am eagerly awaiting a chance to see this staged!

Where certain holiday traditions feel necessary and others feel performative, Smerkanich's Halloween reminds us to never assume our traditions translate. In this play, there is room for scoffing and room for learning how to communicate again. Wry yet heart-forward, I found this piece deeply reminiscent of people I know, which perhaps is a testament to Smerkanich's excellent carving of characters. I worked as a festival coordinator for the OOB Festival with this piece and would love a chance to work with this playwright, too!

Ragone's writing floats in poetry and lands in deep, connective resonance to our perceived ugliness and our true beauty. In this intimate two-hander, My Barricade asks us to examine the ways in which we deny our own beauty and asks us to step closer to each other in care as a result. Imperfect just as we are imperfect, these two individuals navigate their relationship and broader beauty standards in a raw and honest exchange. I'd love to see this again soon!

At the intersection of Inside Out and A Knight's Tale, DRAWBRIDGE is a scenic sprint of words and feelings with laughter and heart all along the way. The open casting and opportunity for play in both the verbal and the physical make this piece incredibly versatile. My favorite read in quite some time. I had the privilege of festival coordinating at the 48th Annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival where this play was last seen; it was there I learned this playwright is just as wonderful as she is brilliant! I so want to work with this playwright!

I, personally, find the reclaiming of canonical stories alluring; this play is the epitome of that. The moment with the sail at the end is quite theatrically satisfying because it gives the epic image onstage that the original Odyssey story may present, but here the spectacle is rooted in a story more of its audience can relate to. I find this play incredibly exciting. Someone produce this! #BAPF46

This is for a thoughtful crowd, someone who wants to see theatre working through thoughts and memories that they themselves may be working through, too. I really enjoyed my time with this play because of my own feelings of being lost or disheartened in today’s day. This idea of lives not being our own feels like a very personal exploration of the consequences of systemic injustices in terms of both race and economic status in this instance. I find it left a strong impression on me for hours after reading the play. #BAPF46

With all of the gravity of a folktale and fueled by the old-soul energy of its protagonist, this play is easily one of my favorites and one I keep returning to . As Dontrell journeys to discover his role in his lineage, which poetically becomes a place both past, present, and future, the story connects us to those we come from and those we will become all at once.