Recommended by John Busser

As beautifully written as it is devastating, Deb Cole's look at loss and living on after is quiet, but it speaks volumes. Lacey is desperately looking for a way to hang on to her late daughter and finds it in a cardinal. David is even more interesting here. There's a sense of anger under his words. I was fascinated with his take on possibility seeing their child in the afterlife. It made him angry that a possible creator would take away their little girl in the first place. These are rich, complex characters brought to us in only 5 pages.

Oh my God! That was brilliant! I loved the idea. I loved the characters. I especially loved the wordplay! Morey Norkin is a spiritual successor to Norm Crosby, the patron saint of malapropisms. Keep these coming Morey. I need more nonsense like this in my life.

Holy cow, that took SUCH a left turn into a dark place! I absolutely loved this piece by DC Cathro. He knows exactly how to set the scene in such an innocuous manner, then start building upon it until you're at the edge of a cliff you didn't know you were climbing. Then he dropkicks you off it in the creepiest fashion. Be careful about trading that Halloween candy. Apparently it's bad for your teeth... and the rest of you.

A wonderfully creepy audio play. Brent Alles has crafted a terrific horror play making use of the radio play penchant for using sound to tell the story. And there are some awfully specific ones used here too. This play will make you feel unsettled in the best way. Somebody produce this piece. It'll be perfect on any podcast that does it.

Paul Donnelly's short drama shows just how unyielding both sides in an argument can be. On the one hand Jeremy's mother (however wrong-headed I may believe her to be, and make no mistake, I am pro-science on this) clearly cares enough for her son's happiness to try to get Mike to listen. On the other, Mike's love for his daughter's welfare is just as (if not more) prevalent. The smart dialogue gives us no clear winner or loser here, and I'd bet this play will provoke much discussion after seeing it. Theater with a point!

I guarantee you this will be the most fascinating yet bewildering play you read today. Absurdity rules here in this story of a therapist having to deal with the mother of an 8 year old boy with a problem. Mental health is called into question and the subject matter may prove a bit much for some. But for the rest of us, we would really love to see how this would play out onstage.

The way Iyna Caruso tells the tale, I want this to be the way it went down. There's a sense of romanticism here that plays into all of our societal desires to love the criminal over authority. Like a Spanish Robin Hood, we pull for Pablo (even if he wasn't exactly guilty of what he was accused of nor giving riches to the poor,) we're still on his side.

You always both know and don't know what you're going to get with an Evan Baughfman play. You KNOW you're going to get something absurd, a bit on the strange side, fills with quirky characters, and funny as hell. But you DON'T KNOW how he'll rope you in each time. Evan's imagination is it's own mysterious creature in itself. And thank God for it. I love this little play. My favorite line (and one I think encapsulates the weirdness perfectly) "I foraged the wrong mushrooms for dinner?" Perfection.

A wise man once said "I don't care if everyone gets my stuff. I just care that the RIGHT people get it." And this play may be the most "inside baseball" thing I've read in a good long while, and I actually think I got it! So if nothing else, I recommend this play on the basis that I got it! And I like peanut butter sandwiches too. So... win/win. Thanks for the fun read Christopher.

I love Deb Cole's writing. Even as something as silly as a zombie writing challenge teaches you a valuable lesson. Although I think I learned the wrong one.

I've been eating like there's no tomorrow.

Even the zombies she writes are smarter than I am...