Recommended by John Busser

Lee Lawing is on to something here. (It may just be too much cough syrup.) This is a weird little piece about winning prizes at the fair where the tables are turned and the prizes have won the people. And there's something to be said about human and un-human nature. The more we anthropomorphize objects, the more they become just like us in their petty, flawed emotional lives. I think this is a winner.

Our national pastime (and our nation for that matter) took a beating in 2020 along with the rest of the world, and Daniel Prillaman puts it into terms we can relate to with his metaphorical 2 outs, bases loaded scenario summing up how many feel. It's our time to step up and make it count. But life can throw all kinds of curveballs that you don't see coming. Prillaman exemplifies this well in this short piece. Definitely worth seeing this game.

Theater is all about suspension of disbelief, and Daniel Prillaman's The Furniture Store stocks it in droves, along with absolutely no furniture (unless of course, you are willing to do some suspending.) If you do, you'll be treated to a wickedly funny little 10-minute piece with fun physical roles for a quartet of actors. Weird and wonderful. I recommend highly.

Holy cow, that was something! I LOVED this idea and had NO notion of where it was going. A totally original idea here by Evan Baughfman. The ultimate blind date gone horribly wrong for the most Twilight-Zoniest reason ever. Evan, I tip my hat to you! My highest recommendation!

Wow, what a kick in the b*lls THIS play is! And deservedly so. If every man in a position to control women's destinies could be forced to live with the power in women's hands there'd be a lot of crying and whining. And Laura's giving Patrick the old "smile, you're more attractive that way" line is icing on the schadenfreude cake. Really smart writing.

I LOVE plays that utilize physical humor and this one has it in abundance. Ali Gallo takes your fear of the dentist, cranks it up to eleven, and then gives you one of the funniest plays I've read in a while. This would be a dream play for actors who are physical comedians. Plus the characters themselves are vividly drawn with wonderful word play in between the falling and tooth-pulling. Produce this one and you'll have smiles all night.

What happens when the immoveable critic meets the unstoppable applicant? A funny clash of methods in Larry Rinkel's charming 10-minute piece. As the applicant points out, it's not always easy to judge something, much to the irritation of the critic. With a slow-boil build up, one character manages to completely undermine the authority of the other with nothing more than the intention of doing a good job. As Larry has done here.

NEVER interrupt the 15-minute break. At least in Samantha Marchant's play which has perfectly drawn characters here. You have helpful-but-helpless Erin, by-the-book Barb and don't-give-a-f*ck Amber. All three are great roles for women that show up that while retail can be hell, with the right people, it can also be funny as hell.

Evan Baughfman presents an all-too-plausible evolution in our body collective with this one minute eye-opener. We're already one generation into a society that thrives in an addicted-to-likes, inter-connected online environment. Is it really too much to think we wouldn't succumb to a virus that feeds on our need to matter? This is scarier than you think. Would love to watch this with an audience if only to try to spot that ONE audience member sneaking a look at their phone during the performance.

It's a cruel irony that the boys depicted in this play by Kim Ruyle contemplate enlisting for family's sake at the military funeral of their youngest brother. But this plays in to larger themes of continuing legacies, duty, and a cycle of violence that neither boy is really considering the cost of. I almost thought that Danny, the younger of the two surviving siblings would be the one to end the cycle but in the end, he too succumbs to it.