Recommended by Nora Louise Syran

Lovely. A purrfect exploration of grief and remembrance. Priskorn always manages to go straight to the heart of what's most important: dare to love. "Don’t worry about the emptiness in between."

Love this : two in tune siblings battling their family situation the way they can. The visual symbol of this dress is simply beautiful. Brava playwright.

BBC!? Hello? Suspenseful stage/screen/radio play by Rachel Feeny-Williams calling! The short version was twisty-turny entertainment but the full length weaves you in and out and up and down dark corridors until its satisfying deneument. Murder mystery "fun".

This meta-audio-theatrical romp through the other hospital (not General Hospital where the good looking doctors are) will have you in stitches (sorry)! It's hysterical. You're in good capable hands with John Busser but you'll need a bit of post-op recovery time to stop laughing.

Thal's play immerses us in the multicultural frenzy and bustling commerce of 17th century Venice -- complete, unlike its "prequel" THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, with its canals! While drawing from Commedia dell'arte's situational comedy, the tale is steeped in tragicomedy as running beneath it all is the ever present lurid antisemitism of Shakespeare's play and the treatment of the character Shylock. Thal "fleshes" out this character, humanizes him and adds moments of levity including my favorite line: "The Inglés wish not to become Escocés. I have seen their plays and they would rather be Italianos." Quite a trip!

Lovers of history and comedy you must "vatch and loin, vatch and loin!" Norkin crafts a period piece which begins with a delightful moment of situational comedy involving a corpse and then moves on to address heavy mid-20th century themes without ever feeling didactic or overly weighty. His characters ring true (even the dead one is fully characterized!), the parallels between Jewish immigrants and Black Americans are poignant, the use of the paint metaphor spot on and the play remains overall hopeful and just delightful. A costumer designer's delight. Norkin shows his "true colors" with this one! Bravo.

Sweet! I just watched Marcia Eppich-Harris's short play produced by the Indiana Ten Minute Play Festival. Sometimes we all just need a little nudge in the right direction. I laughed out loud at the teen's lack of a "thank you" at the end, but perhaps everything in life does even out because its the couple that are truly the grateful ones. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZB31SCLRyY

A lovely two-hander for older actors. The plot starts in media res and the frank, abrupt jump into the characters propels the tension of the play until the conclusion when all becomes clear. Until then, we're on a back and forth sharing of personal, private and dramatic stories ("One time I...") of two people getting to really know --and re-know-- each other. Easy to stage, natural dialogue. Bravo, playwright.

As a mother, a sister, a wife and writer, this play was so intensely relatable. But one does not have to be a woman or hopeful mother to understand the hold that grief, desire, depression, and longing have on us. I was immersed immediately from the start and the story does not let go. It is haunting and yet hopeful; naturalistic in its dialogue and yet darkly poetic. "Whenever there’s unconditional love, they take advantage." Brava, playwright.

As teachers, we learn theories: Gardner's multiple intelligences, Maslow's hierarchy of needs...and the keystone to them all is compassion. Jason standing at mindless attention is not what this--or any country or child--needs. Compassion is the key. While it's easy to blame technology, the solution is always a human one: a passionate teacher with compassion and financial support. This play--performed live to an ever changing audience with their own different biases, perceptions, educational experiences--gets that. Bravo. I enjoyed the world premiere and look forward to hearing more about it soon.