Recommended by John Busser

Sweet and to the point. Whether you have known the love of a pet in your home or not, you can't help but be touched by this short from Jacquie Floyd. "But we will never be able to keep him" might sound sad, but in context of the play, it's the only possible statement to make. Hopefully this will stay in your mind as long as the memory of any beloved pet.

I LOVE time travel plays and man, did THIS play have me on the edge of my seat! Joe Swenson has put together a truly suspenseful play involving time travel and destiny that'll make your pulse beat faster as it reaches the end. Professor Drayton is our audience surrogate as he tries to piece together who is telling the truth while dodging attempts on his life. Is Nick trying to save him? Then why did he just...? Nope, I won't give it away. Read, or better yet, produce this so we can watch.

THIS is why everything old is new again. Philip Middleton Williams takes a well-aimed potshot at the crass commercialism of, well, crass commercials. Pointing out how the ad world endlessly recycles campaigns to sell the newest item in the assembly line is so perfectly constructed, you can't help but laugh at it. And now we know how the sausage is advertised...

I highly recommend this powerful piece on guns and how there really is no control once they enter the situation. Raw and unforgiving, this play is a train wreck you can't look away from. We see how a couple, tangled in multiple ways of abuse, both physical and mental, begin the inevitable slide toward tragedy. We know this can't end well, no matter how well-intentioned the gun's presence may be, and we get to see that, no matter what the scenario, the characters ALWAYS lose. I'm still stunned over this.

Characters meet cute in a lot of stories, but sparks can fly a lot farther when there is some angst thrown on the fire as we see in this first meeting between two college students at odds over a torn poster. Brett tries to ensure Chip (perfectly named, as he appears to have a rather large-sized one on his shoulder) he wasn't responsible and we're off to the relationship races. The 2 characters are both well-formed and we really want to see where this is going. A great start to an ongoing series.

I have to admit, I didn't think I'd be so moved by a story that has been played for laughs as many times, if not more, than played straight. And Scott Sickles never plays anything straight (pun intended). Michael's interaction with a pretty accommodating iteration of Death is smart, funny and yet, philosophical without becoming preachy. Scott's character dialogue has always been his strong suit, and I wanted to have the characters keep talking well past the end (literally). Death's warm (empathy-wise) embrace should be the way it's portrayed from now on. This was terrific.

This one was right up my alley, a zombie comedy. Zombie apocalypses have always been ripe for parody and Cole Dzubak hits all the right notes. I'm really hoping the "talking zombie" thing takes hold as a HUGE percentage of characters in these stories never say anything. This play shows there's life in the dead.

What begins as an examination of a failed relationship in an "elevator" takes on a whole new slant by play's end. VIraj Shriwardhankar doesn't play the easy beat here and as a result, it makes the piece much more thoughtful in retrospect. The best plays are ones that make you think a little afterward, and this one does that wonderfully.

Morey Norkin has an ear for banter and he puts it to good use here in this romantic comedy of errors (on Larry's part) and Pickleball. Drawing us in with sympathetic characters who fumble their way through a budding relationship that sends them from the stage to a pickleball court, a hospital and a wedding before the play is through. All triggered by a stifled sneeze. From this tiny nasal acorn a comedic tree has grown. And the audience will benefit from the shade it throws.

There's two places today where magic happens on a daily basis; theater and a baseball field (at least during the season). Stephen Kaplan brings us the best of both worlds. A play about baseball and the magic that can happen. This was a charmer from page one. As a former right fielder (and bookworm in a family of athletes, including a dad who was coach), I SO connected to Tim. And like Tim, I stuck with it even though I wanted to be reading my books and watching monster movies. The magic in this play held me here. Just terrific.