Recommended by John Busser

Oh wow, was this funny! Telling the truth in such an interaction is the goal, but never has the truth flown free in such a manner. Makes you wonder just how much real interaction is bumpered by euphemism, half-truths, misleading statements and outright lying. I loved the honest assessment of both sides of this equation. Kate Danley has a winner here, if only because everyone on Earth can relate to this, even as no one on Earth would ever actually engage in it. Thank God Kate did.

Apparently, all the UNIVERSE is a stage and God is the lead in this fun little piece from Sam Heyman. A look at performance anxiety in the making (as well as making everything else), we are shown a grizzled old vet teaching the new kid the ropes that hold everything together. And the most important lesson they learn (and it's a lesson we can all benefit from) is, whatever role or job or task comes your way, make it your own. Create with gusto and you'll never be disappointed.

Playing on the power of expectations, Ruben Carbajal's short, but sharp play presents the inevitable result of having THAT famous object onstage (even if it really isn't), and then provides TWO hilarious looks at how that could play out. I'd love to see audiences get the chance to see them both.

A terrific setup for a piece about stifling creative discourse, this play lets some colorful characters find their way back to social interaction in the best possible way, at the pub! With friends! I think the word that describes this play best is... cathartic. Read it yourself and see. Of course, that's only my opinion. Your mileage may vary. Which is precisely the point.

All the mischief that one sock on the floor creates is so appropriate to how many of us deal with life's problems. Let it sit there and it either becomes someone else's problem, or someone else's opportunity. A simple play about a complex subject, in this case, responsibility. This is smart, funny and ends just the way it should. Terrific, Adam!

A seemingly innocent game gives way to a nightmarish struggle of control and punishment in this short by Jonathan Swaan. You realize the cruelty slowly increasing and yet also are led to realize the role of the victim here. At no time does N try to take over the game from A, instead trying their best to comply. When things take a turn for the worse, N retaliates but again, tellingly, never tries to turn the tables on A. An interesting metaphor for how one party can manipulate and vie for control of another.

The lengths some people go to for a date. This little comic gem from Jacquie Floyd (I can't believe I missed this one) posits a reality (HA!) show show about haunted hangouts would have been funny enough with the concept of a haunted coffee shop alone. But it adds in some gender identity issues, a TV crew with more interest in ratings than hauntings, a lesbian barista who's a more concerned with keeping her job and outside beef jerky (definitely not allowed) to spice things up. I am never disappointed with a Jacquie Floyd piece. You won't be either.

Putting a gun control question through a funhouse mirror of a game show may sound crazy, but it doesn't come close to the absurdity Philip Kaplan displays here in this BRILLIANT satire on our obsession with guns. Kaplan hits everything he aims at and his targets are well deserved. It's just too bad the intended audience for a piece like this will be too busy out on a shooting range somewhere (or worse yet, a supermarket or park setting) taking aim at would-be imaginary transgressors.

And that, right there, is exactly what's gone off the rails in modern American education. The entitlement that people think they can afford is on full display here in this one minute, on target play by Jackie Martin. Both funny and appalling at the same time.

You can never truly know somebody's motivations, can you? What you see on the surface tells you one thing, but WHY someone acts the way they do can be a whole other ballgame. Debra Cole's smart, tragic drama gives you a terrible situation made better by the intervention of a stranger. Until, that is, you learn his true intentions. This piece is unsettling in how it plays out, and all the worse knowing how much the family will revere the man responsible for their daughter's predicament. This is chillingly effective writing.