Recommended by John Busser

01.05.25 - I think the thing I liked about this piece the most is that, despite the outlandish setting (Mermaids in a recording studio), there really is some substance here about why we create the things we do. In this case, a simple love song. Harmonea has her reasons for wanting it the way she wants and it's a damned solid reason. Well done Kieran.

01.05.25 - Oh THAT was creepy as hell. The circumstances behind the Son's situation are unsettling enough (caretaker of a sickly mother for years, then being conscripted into it again after her passing), but then the REAL torment comes. I defy any audience member watching this not to get a little raised gooseflesh when her accusations begin. And the ambiguity of it all is what's really frightening.

01.05.25 - A fun little holiday piece of gold in the stocking with Adam Richter's take on the magic of Santa. While Bonnie doesn't get her wish to kill Sir Walter Raleigh (it makes sense, believe me) What she gets in return is more charming. (Parrot-Heads abound, so she'll HAVE to like it) and Siobhan gets to go off on her own adventure. All in all, a wonderful holiday treat.

01.04.25 - There's a figurative needle drop in this play that just tickled me to no end. I love when you think you know where something is headed and BAM! you get the rug pulled out from under you and it's going somewhere else. Ryan Kaminski gives us some deeply interesting characters and believe me when I say, some characters go deeper than others. I would love to see this if only to watch the audience reaction to the switch up. Enormous fun.

01.04.25 - As I read this terrific play by Scott Sickles, I took solace in the fact that Issac's own self-conscious fears of acceptance and perfection, often getting in his own way, mirrors so many of our collective experiences. Bascom mercifully understands this though and his reactions to Issac's consternation is what endears them both to the audience. You're invested in their fates and that's just lovely. And I never would have thought that about Peter Ustinov. You learn something every day!

01.03.26 - Finding a connection can be a messy affair. Generational connections even more so. But those types of bonds are more important than ever now in this divisive society. So it was extremely satisfying to find it in this piece by John Patrick Bray. The younger Alina seems destined to look away from her mother Oleksandra, but a shared love of music brings them together. This was beautifully done.

01.03.26 - A delightfully sweet comedy of expectations met and yet, un-met as Roopa and Samir debate the ins and outs of love. Chris Plumridge charms the pants off us with these two characters, and I for one wouldn't mind a revisit with them. We need more of this kind of familial love of a mother just wanting happiness for her son.

01.03.26 - I don't want to give anything away, but when Ruth says "Good." I audibly uttered "oh no..." and then tensed up for the rest of this one minute nightmare from Stuart Hoffman. Geeeeeezzzzzzz....

01.03.26 - Nothing beats the angst of trying to achieve perfection during a holiday. Add in a crying child, bad advice from the internet and differing ideas of what perfection entails, and you've got a charming little corker of a play. But now I really want to know, when will those damned chestnuts pop open?

12.31.25 - Meeting the new neighbors is always a dicey proposition. Steven Satta adds a terrific twist to this situation with the addition of Percy, an Aquatic Individual (Love this designation). I don't want to give away the biggest laugh line here (I outright guffawed), but when the theme to a child's birthday party is discussed, well, don't be drinking anything when you read it.