Recommended by John Busser

Good God, that was an eye opener. These multiple characters all dealing with patients on one end and employees on the other, resulting in the equivalent of a Red Bull-induced fever dream, are dizzying to just read about. Imagine the chaos on a stage! When we call a healthcare provider, we are one person dealing with one, two, eight, who knows how many people on the other end, and Barbara Litt writes here like a veteran of some medical mine field she's traversed multiple times. A comic nightmare that no amount of medical coverage will cure. Great spoofery.

God**** I want to play at this course! George Sapio is a mad genius for ever concocting the idea of a Jesus-on-a-windmill hazard that screams "You're damned!" if you hit it. This delightfully bizarre comedy hits all the right notes and I'd love to hear an audience react to "Stroke your putts for Jesus." Sorry to keep giving the great stuff away, I was just tickled by this play.

I was deeply moved by this monologue from Scott Sickles. Not only did it provide insight into another person's personal demon (and I liked that Grant, the character here, doesn't treat it like body shaming regret), but what seems a healthy (pardon the pun) mental attitude. He recognizes the negatives of the extra weight and realizes he needs help with dealing with it. Others may fall back into despair, but not Grant. There's a positivity here that puts the audience in Grant's corner. As ironic as it sounds, I'd actually want to see more of Grant from Mr. Sickles.

Chris Plumridge does "naughty" in the best British tradition. At no time is this play anything but witty, charming and oh-so-relatable. The audience will love Janet and Malcolm and maybe even learn that the bedroom can be for things other than reading. And it's a perfect play for a couple of older actors who never get to be anything but the caring mom or disapproving dad. These characters still have a spark to them. Terrific writing.

Conviction is one thing. Stubbornness, quite another. Delvyn Case makes it clear which applies here. And in doing so, he points out the hypocrisy that religious fervor can generate. Paul needs to practice what he'll be preaching. Nicely done.

My favorite types of comedies are those with a great degree of physical humor on display, and this one has it in spades. Ramsey Uhter allows her cast to have a fun time with something that, let's face it, terrifies most of the audience. What a great way to incorporate a therapy session onstage. This is one pest you'll want to confront up close.

There's a fine sense of unspoken feeling underlying the actual words here. Vince Gatton has a sharp ear for the type of dialogue that speaks two different tones. That which is meant on the surface, and that which is implied. It's wonderfully done here and the audience should be left feeling that the play they WANT to see involves these 2 young men and where THEIR story takes them. Terrific stuff.

Kudos to Cole for this short, sweet and to the CLEVER point about answering an age old riddle in the most infallible way. I wonder if any MENSA participants could have done better? Somehow, I kinda doubt it...

I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I found this piece. I'm still not sure, but boy, did I enjoy the confusion. There's plenty to laugh at in the farcically funny wedding farce that brings together Cowboys and Italians through some truly inventive means. And the song work is wonderful as well. Although the playwright says these characters are "not deep thinkers", the dialogue and music here show a lot of thought and attention went into it. Clever and well worth your time.

I am a HUGE fan of old monster movies. No one wants to see the creatures survive to terrorize another day more than myself. So Lee Lawing's touching short piece really hit home. We always forget that underneath that scaly (or hairy, furry, slimy, half-dead, irradiated, supernatural, robotic, alien) covering, there beats the heart of a man. Lee shows us this in the most ironic way. And as in the best of these films, the creature really WAS misunderstood. A wonderfully nostalgic tragedy. I loved it!