Recommended by John Busser

No one makes me more envious of the twisted greatness of his short plays than Evan Baughfman. This play is a perfect example why. Combining relentless advertising with equally relentless murder hornets, this new energy drink will sate your thirst while Evan's clever wordplay and humor will sate your brain's entertainment center. This is great stuff and would love to see it produced.

Teachers already give so much and not even a zombie apocalypse will stop administrators from expecting more. Evan Baughfman writes horror and comedy in equal measure, but here, he adds more to chew on (so to speak). A woman who literally gave her life for the school can't even enjoy her undead retirement in peace, thanks to a selfish Principal, who frankly, needs to put his dedication where the zombie's mouths are. Darkly funny and always entertaining, you can't go wrong with one of Evan's plays. (My favorite subtle line was "We tried distance learning...". That's some funny stuff there)

Interesting that this generation will be the one to grow up where this medical miracle will be considered a cool toy. And what a toy this is. Impressive. Shiny. Bone-breaking. And yet, the young child in Chris Plumridges’s monologue wants to use it, not to bully, but to be accepted. Got to hand it to him (see what I did there?), not a bad message to send.

Deb Cole gives us all we need to know in 60 seconds with an ultra-short trip to the laundromat. Sometimes it's best to know when to hold 'em and know WHERE to fold 'em. Clothes, that is... #funstuff

Jacquie Floyd distills it all down to the essential purpose of a character. To make it to the end. And a satisfying one it is.

A frightening examination of power hierarchy in relationships. Sam Heyman gives us an unsettling and hard to watch (but compelling nevertheless) play about control and the price to pay for surrendering it in the name of comfort. For Pete, the price suddenly becomes too high as the addition of Glenn adds an unwanted element to his and Marcus' situation. And yes, Pete isn't in control here. And that makes all the difference. This is horrifying as it reflects the power dynamic of many real world relationships. I imagine a number of audience members might have their own eyes opened.

I'd say the unseen aliens of Lee Lawing's play are shooting fish in a barrel here, but it's more like eating these fish. A support group of "wanna-be" alien abductees is a truly inspired idea and I expect no less from Lee. His mind works in mysteriously funny ways. The humor is spot on, the characters perfectly imagined. The sound and lighting people will have a field day at one point, (and you'll know what I mean) will have your audience believing that the truth is out there, or at least up there on stage.

Holy Sh*t! That was creepy as Hell! And we STILL don't know what "IT" is. Dan Prillaman's script is brilliantly creepy and it's power comes from the fact that we don't know the answer to the question posed here. The audience is left to finish the play in their own minds. This is absolutely my favorite thing I've read today. And now I know I'm going to be just a little apprehensive the next time I see my doctor, and she tells me to breathe deeply. Thanks Dan, you sick bastard...

Recollections of past events are by definition, unfinished. Memory is faulty, and the narrator is usually presenting an isolated point of view. Which makes this short series of monologues by Liz Duffy Adams more intriguing. They not only provide additional viewpoints, but because they are presented from different points in time as well, we see how focus can shift. Cora concentrates on different things than does Annie, or Kate. Their situations provide insight into their lives during the event as well as years later. Not a whole picture by any means, but a much expanded view than we we expecting.

I love the "meta-ness" of it. Playwright characters writing dystopian plays during a dystopia. J. Chavez hits all the right notes too, including the Lesbian love story (or porn story, depending how far the playwright would have gotten before being interrupted). There's plenty of inside-baseball type humor here for us playwrights, but an audience force fed one goddamn dystopian play after another will spot all the tropes as well. Well done.