Recommended by John Busser

No matter what level of society you're on, the levels still exist and most of us inevitably find ourselves on the lower ones. I guess the same goes for bugs too. At least, it's that way in Ryan Bultrowicz's very funny look at humanity through the multi-faceted eyes of a couple of roaches. Ironically, it's this need to put heel to someone else to elevate oneself that becomes clear when one roach tries to impose hierarchy over the other. And you just know eventually, it'll be the heel for them from someone higher up the food chain. Fun stuff.

I have always thought that good comedy relies on escalation, and this short monologue has that in abundance. Jack Levine writes some very funny dialogue here with a woman determined to keep her spirits up in the face of mounting obstacles. How very British. And how very human. This would be a wonderful way to bring some holiday cheer to an audience.

Highly recommend this strangely down-to-Earth conversation between God and the Devil that goes to show just how dependent these two are to one another. What I loved most about the characterizations of the two of them. The Devil seems very straight forward and honest in his intentions, while God plays a little more strategically and could almost be called sneaky here in how he works his intentions. Mysterious ways, indeed. In the end, the two are more closely related to each other than they would care to admit. Smart and entertaining as hell. Or Heaven.

An interesting example of not seeing the forest for the trees. A young man who wants to be liked goes overboard trying to force it in this telling exchange by Susan Pak. It shows the enormous pressures human beings put themselves under in an entertaining way. Well done.

Entertaining as hell just reading it, this play is hilarious onstage, which I got to see at Madlab's Theatre Roulette a few years back. Mark Harvey Levine never fails to delight.

Philip Middleton Williams play proves that all problems are solvable after going for a cup of coffee. Well, okay, maybe not all problems, but some. And that's what keeps the world going 'round. At a time when getting closer is frowned upon, he shows us three individuals who find a way to bond over both a breakup and a joining, and does it in a way both heartfelt and satisfying as a cup of Joe.

When you feel all is lost (friends, family, acquaintances, basically all of humanity) as the character in this monologue does, the phrase "Any port in a storm" takes on real relevance here when a man on the verge of ending it all makes an unexpected connection. And sometimes, that is enough. A play about hope in the midst of dire need.

Well THAT took a fascinating turn! Like a Twilight Zone-type turn. Jack really had me going here with what I thought was a discussion about truth and lies that takes it and spins it into something else entirely. Who is lying and about what? And aren't we all sometimes fooling ourselves sometimes? This play seems to prove it so. A fun twist and very compelling characters.

Short, sweet and saying more in a minute about the journey we are on than a lot of longer plays do, Jack Levine hits on a universal truth. The journey itself is the goal. As we'll all find out. A wonderful little play.

From the hilarious title to the laugh-inducing last (punch)line, this is another quirky, funny, comic look at life, death and those icky things we can't help but step on. Sometimes we feel justifies, sometimes we feel incredibly guilty. And sometimes, we feel enormous glee, as we do seeing Jacquie Floyd-Priskorn's take on getting past security at the pearly gates. I love reading her work.