Recommended by John Busser

01.10.25 - What an interesting monologue! Just strange enough in this world to say I'd believe it if I saw it on the news. Of course, it wouldn't have the wit and charm that Lee lawing brings to his work. He adds a touch of sincerity to his words that give it an authenticity. A terrific monologue for a young actress.

01.10.25 - What an eye-opener of a play about humanity's need for resources counterpoised with our equal need to use up and selfishly exploit those same resources. Using a science fiction setup, Steve Martin shows us ourselves even as we destroy our spaceship Earth. Thank God there still exist folks like Hadley, who make an effort to remember and respect what we have (and had). This is wonderful stuff and I only wish I'd read this sooner. Happy to have caught up to it.

01.10.25 - Waiting in a line is just another of life's inconveniences. But there's a comfort there too. Knowing that others in the line are in a similar state is somehow a great equalizer. Julie Brandon captures this perfectly as we see lower numbers get their turn while higher numbers join in the process. A recognizable look at the queue life we can all associate with.

01.10.25 - Every once in a while, we need to be reminded that other human beings who aren't as fortunate as we are deserve our notice. It's easy to ignore the homeless, to not think about them and concentrate on our own needs. Well, Thanks to DC Cathro, that's a little harder to do now. Watching Cinda and Darren argue the merits of an act of kindness was an eye-opener. I loved the interaction here, and it seems like Darren, shamed though he was, and deservedly so, may have learned something here

01.10.25 - They say Beauty is skin deep, but irritation must run deeper. Julie Brandon gives us a breakup over a breakout of allergies. Perhaps she was allergic to something buried below his outward appearance. The subconscious can have a way of sussing out a potential problem we can't see. In this monologue, we might just be seeing this in action. A good way to get under your skin.

01.10.25 - It's hard to assign a human face when world-changing events occur, but that is just what Chris Plumridge has done here, showing a letting out of a collective breath-holding done by an entire people. The end of a war is usually seen in the bigger terms of loss and rebuilding, but here, for a few moments, we get to see the celebration not from street level, but getting to see the toll it took on those making the decisions that both save and end lives. They are human just like us.

01.10.25 - Like a lost chapter of Holy Grail, this Python-esque side-splitter from David Lipschutz takes questing to new levels of hilarity. The hapless hero, tortured more by the mischievous Narrator than any beasts he encounters endures one humiliation after another, and each redo is funnier than the next. I'd love to see this staged (if only to see the actual beasts realized). His final fate is a masterstroke. Or at least, cause for a stroke. For him, that is...

01.07.25 - Mob mentality is an ugly thing, and Julie Brandon delivers a tight 10 minute play on why. No matter the cause, the pig-headedness of the mob can't be reasoned with, and while the victims of the mob are what they are accused of, their intent is the opposite of the mob's fear. Not that it matters. This play brings fear and mistrust to the front, and no amount of reason or sanity will hold it back. A sad but true indictment of our societal norm. There's a lesson to be learned here.

01.02.25 - A community among the like-minded gets upended when an outsider with a different set of priorities enters the picture. This starts a chain reaction like a line of dominoes, and we see that community isn't as picture perfect as we thought. Philip Middleton Williams creates a story brought vividly to life in the summer of 1969, but he punctuates it as a standout moment, not only because of the moon landing, but of changing norms dealing with uneasy sexual expectations. Terrific writing.

01.02.25 - Well, Mark Harvey Levine wins playwrighting today. I can't recommend this mashup of Rudolph and Les Miz any higher. It's brilliant from start to finish (and my personal favorite being the Bumble number (Master of the Snow!). Rankin Bass missed the mark there for sure not incorporating this. No wonder this has such a long production history. This is Gold (and Silver)