Recommended by John Busser

There really is a light at the end of a dark tunnel. But it's a lot easier to see it when we have someone to walk the tunnel with. Both Mom and Son went through the darkness alone, but they both came to realize there was someone out there who needed them. Glenn Alterman writes a hopeful play about suicide, with an important lesson to teach. Mom and Son are inside most of us in one aspect or another, so it's both a relief and a reminder to look for those other points of light to show us the way.

A brilliant epilogue to a series of pieces that, while they portray an abused and damaged individual, shows there's a way to pick up the damaged bits, piece them together, and come out stronger. Joe Swenson is a giant of a human being. His experiences could have left him twisted and brittle, ready to fall apart at the slightest provocation. Instead, he took his experience and drove straight at the darkness, made it his bitch, and put it up there for the benefit of others, those who needed to hear it, and those, like myself, who WANT to hear it.

The concept of the "do-over" is brought wonderfully to life by Mark Harvey Levine in this short piece that takes one line uttered at a party, and explores various tracks the conversation could, would, should, and shouldn't follow. Although the paths diverge concurrently, in a variety of ways, the presentation makes a weird kind of sense. There's a magical quality at play here as we watch George and Joan navigate and replay their responses to each other. We want them to succeed, and the maze they wander through takes them down equally interesting paths. Terrific stuff.

Pity the poor understudy. Not quite good enough to snag the role, but expected to learn the role anyway, most likely never to perform it. Well, in Courtney Taylor's laugh out loud farce, the Understudy has the opposite problem. Watching the escalation of excuses (and roles) thrown at this character was a hoot and a half. This was a play written for ALL the unsung heroes of theater, the Understudy actors, the Techies, the SMs, who get to learn the hilariously hard way, that the show must go on. No matter who has dropped out.

The personification of a website review comes to hilarious life in this short and sweet piece by Rob Matsushita. The characters put a face to the play we haven't seen (but someone has, and they were NOT amused). The comments sound absolutely real (and I'm guessing they are) and are scathingly funny as hell, as we see the battle lines being drawn between those who loathed it and those who loved it (wearing terrific disguise mustaches of course). Would love to see this mirror of a play shown to an audience.

I don't know whether I should feel guilty or not for thoroughly enjoying this short play from Aly Kantor, but she certainly seems to have perfectly captured the mix of emotion, inquisitiveness, shame and delight that being a teenage girl is (I'm guessing of course, but I DO have sisters). Mixing fact, fiction, and the internet, that bastion of truth, these characters are wonderfully realized. We get to know how curious they are over their changing bodies, and how scary some of those prospects are. It's all wonderfully realized by Kantor's dialogue. Just terrific stuff.

Dontcha just love a twist ending?I do. And John McDonald provides a doozy here. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the home goods store, some purchases can bite you on the... well, light a candle and find out.

Well, I did NOT see that coming. This is a tale we've seen before; Death (here personified as Mortis) challenges a somewhat arrogant someone to a game and we expect to see his comeuppance. But James Perry puts a fun little twist to the game in it's conclusion. I'd love to see this "played" out on stage. Chess might not seem like the most riveting visual for an audience, but there's enough tension and dark comedy to put an audience on the edge of their seats.

Absolutely hilarious! Kate Danley obliterates her target here, but in the most hysterical way. Who here can't identify with John and Mary, desperately trying to vamp while waiting for an oblivious co-star to get his dance belt on? We've all been caught in this onstage battleground. I loved the escalation of their pretending to put off doing... the THING. And my favorite line was Tom's first. "I'M NOT READY." (I heard it in my head as the character from Holy Grail who says "I'm not dead yet!") The chill that sends up John and Mary's spines is priceless.

A reminder that, history may be written by the winners, but it's the losers who take up the editorial process. This scathing indictment of censorship is short, darkly disturbing and funny AF (provided you don't let the terrifying implications settle in.)