Recommended by Rand Higbee

It's the 1970s and the times they are a-changin'. A working-class family faces a pivotal moment when their adult daughter announces a big life change that she and her boyfriend are making. Mom, Dad and brother aren't sure how to react at first, but a review of family history makes them all realize that they need to learn how to accept inevitable change.

Drew Paryzer has written a clever little one-act here. A couple meet for a first date but each of them morphs throughout the play into different people...or is it different versions of themselves? There's a cavewoman, a knight, and android and so on. Just as each character has several layers the play itself has a lot of layers to peel back. One reading wasn't enough. There's much to think about here.

A tense little two-hander by Caitlyn Waltermire. A young man experiencing car trouble approaches the trailer home of a young woman. This is a very rural area and nobody else is anywhere near. So is this young woman in danger? Or maybe the young man is! The answer is quite unexpected.

Two strangers meeting on a park bench might seem a fairly common way to start a play, but when those characters are named Dick and Jane one wonders if we might be witnessing fate. Dick comes across as a bit of a goofball, but is he really a goofball or a genius in disguise? And is Jane in the market for a goofball/genius? This a short, fun little romance by Jack Levine.

Mathew Green has written a deceptively simple little play here, meaning that there is more going on than you may at first notice. Mom wants their 4-year-old son to go to the best possible school. Dad wants their kid to be a kid. Who is right and who is wrong? Maybe there are some shades of gray here.

Sometimes a play isn't really about the characters or the action but instead about the feelings it invokes. "Twelve Books" is such a play. The spirit of a father comes back from "beyond" to visit his son who is busy packing up the father's belongings. The two connect once again over their love of books. The play is either that simple or that complicated, but I guarantee it will get you thinking about the books you grew up with and the books you cannot part with.

My family recently had to sell off property that had been in our hands for generations. It's difficult. You know you must move on, but you also wish you could hold on. With obvious references to "The Cherry Orchard," Philip Middleton Williams captures those feelings with "The Country Squire." We come to care about the characters who are facing this difficult choice and we come to care about the property itself. The ending (no spoilers!) is happy, sad and wistful.

I saw a reading of the first part of this play at the 2025 Midwest Dramatists Conference in Kansas City, then I came here to read the rest. Then I came back to read it through again. That's the type of play it is. You may not understand it the first time through. Or the second. But it pulls you in. Read it and you will understand what I mean.

A couple on the beach have a very interesting conversation as it quickly becomes clear that they both need new hearing aids. WARNING: You will have to read this one a few times to catch all of the jokes!

"Infinity of Delight" is a romantic comedy between two real historical figures. Or, I should say, it starts off as a rom-com. But about halfway through it takes a twist and quickly becomes a much more serious play. This my first encounter with a play by Danielle Wirsansky and I will have to come back and read more.