Recommended by John Busser

Who doesn't love mixed drinks? Apparently, they themselves don't mix as easily as you'd think. At least that's what we learn from Rachel Feeny-Williams' brilliant take on why liquor and relationships can be a rough ride. Perfectly capturing social dynamics and the quick-pace change of pecking orders, we also get to see this displayed in such a fun way, with anthropomorphized bottles of various alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages all vying for their turn in the glass. This would be wonderful for an audience to see staged. You could enjoy these drinks and still drive home afterward.

Another winning play from Greg Mandryk sees an organization we've probably ALL been victim to at one point of another being pushed into the light when one victim pushes back. Or ARE they? You see, they seem to have all the bases covered in this darkly funny spin on conspiracies made manifest. David was just too smart for his own good, and now, when you leave the theater tonight, chances are you'll have to wait your turn out of the parking lot, while Greg's play jams up the exit and forces you to pay an extra hour for the babysitter.

There's a creep factor of 11 here brought out by Greg Mandryk's writing that is palpable. A lot of folks are afraid of the dark to some degree. But afraid of SOUNDS in the dark is even worse. And here, even the simple sound of someTHING keeping pace with us is terrifying. But there's something I'd like to make note of beyond the writing itself. The staging is brilliant. Usually the audience is privy to things the characters aren't. Here, the way Greg stages things, the audience is just as much in the dark and THAT is scary as Hell.

Usually you don't want to start your outrageous play on a highly ridiculous note as it gives you very little room to grow. Not so here, as Kate Danley starts high and still manages to soar to ever-greater heights of ridiculousness. From the disappearing Squatch (while being in plain sight), to using a mister like a cat-deterrent, this play just keeps escalating into new hilarious areas. I loved it.

An unwelcome guest indeed. One that shows up, never pays for the room it invades, yet somehow makes YOU pay for it being there. Chris Plumridge hits a very relatable nerve that we all work so hard NOT to relate to. I hope anyone reading, hearing, watching and/or performing this monologue understands how monstrous this “guest” really is. I love Chris’s writing here even if the reason for this writing is a hard one to endure.

I was impressed by Aunt Nellie's more practical take on the inevitability of progeny never taking the path that is expected by parents. Preserving a way of life becomes the primary goal for some parents, whether the children want it or not. Flo is afraid that way of life is going by the wayside and isn't prepared to let her son do that to her. But thank God Aunt Nellie is there to provide some much needed perspective on the matter. A smart, charming bit of country wisdom by Don Baker goes down as smoothly as Sugar Cream Pie does.

Deb Cole hits a very relatable nail on the head here. Naming a child can be nerve-wracking and it's something that almost all of us have faced at one point in our lives. I loved the way the 2 couples managed to do more shooting down of name choices than positively encourage said names. Too many times, I've seen people enthusiastically endorse names that mean we now have people running around out there with names like Zephyr, Portabella and Breehl (Those are real kids names) And what's wrong with a porn star named Noah?

Extremely interesting piece that should be staged if only to have audiences take pause to look at how their reactions can be just as triggering as the material of the standup comic in question. One of the functions of humor is to poke holes and expose the absurdity of our lives. But some poking can irritate as well as illuminate. At what point can personal offense be wielded as a weapon against those they oppose? Marc Paykuss imagines a very real answer here, and it isn't pretty.

As a childhood paleontologist, I am intrigued by Evan Baughfman's true life account of how flowering plants truly arrived on the prehistoric landscape. (Evan's a teacher, so this MUST be true). I would love to see this staged, if only to watch the costumer ingest enough magic mushrooms and begin the greatest feat of costuming in theater history. I loved this.

I don't know about Joe, but boy, am I glad i did THIS thing? Reading this wonderfully screwy Twilight Zone-esque piece from Chris Plumridge was quite a treat. It's funny as hell, bent in all the right ways, and perfectly punctures our social media landscape. The way everyone but Joe seems to be obsessed with knowing whether he did the thing or not is so typical of our jump-on-the-bandwagon mentality. This play put a smile on my face, which, based on Joe's answer, might have been the thing he was doing all along.