Recommended by Tom Moran

What an absorbing play. Using a claustrophobic locked-down Capitol hill office as a backdrop, Kissinger creates a piece that is part comedy, part thriller, and part reflection on American governance and the limits of youthful idealism. And sandwiched in between the many great punchlines, she even manages the difficult job of humanizing people who besiege their elected representatives with nonstop bitter commentary. I was sad to miss this relentlessly entertaining piece at the Valdez Theatre Conference and am glad it's here on NPX.

(seen at the 2024 Valdez Theatre Conference) A Rand Higbee play through and through: clever, engaging, and possessed of a certain winning earnestness that hearkens back to less cynical times. It's also quite funny, based on a novel conceit that builds on itself over the course of the piece and leads to a charming conclusion.

I saw this at the Valdez Theatre Conference (well, a recording of it anyway) and richly enjoyed its mix of humor, drama, and the macabre. Soucy deftly manipulates tone as a lighthearted piece about a community theatre production slowly degenerates into a descent into madness. It's maybe the closest thing to a Twilight Zone episode I've seen on stage, and I mean that as a compliment. Kudos also for writing a 3-act play in this day and age; read the play and it will be clear why a 3-act structure is both necessary and immensely rewarding.

A marvelous take on sports commentators, football(ish), existentialism, and the apocalypse. I had the privilege of hearing this read at the Valdez Theatre Conference and it truly shined in performance - the contrast between the forced enthusiasm of traditional sports talk delivery and the baked-in dread of the play's content creates a heady soup of humor and mystery. Makes for a great fit in an evening of plays (and is indeed deliberately structured to do so.)

I saw this read at the Valdez Theatre Conference and greatly enjoyed it. It's clever central conceit makes for a briskly-staged play that accentuates the banality of everyday conversation and the superficial nature of our daily interactions, a trope which is rammed home in the play's sole pointed monologue. An experiment in form with a worthwhile payoff.

A fun short piece based around clever staging that both reflects and amplifies the theme. I enjoyed seeing it read (at the Valdez Theatre Conference) and I expect it would really shine (so to speak) in a full production.

I caught this inventive and absorbing play at the Valdez Theatre Conference and was immediately hooked. Its central conceit is novel and fascinating, serving as a jumping-off point for an introspective full-length that is equal parts mystery, comedy, and philosophical treatise, and is both universal in nature and steeped in time and place. Well worth seeking out.

I had the privilege of seeing "The Abundance" at the Valdez Theatre Conference and found myself completely absorbed by its dark and surreal takedown of multi-level marketing. It's simultaneously a character-driven, piercing look at how MLM's prey on the socially disconnected, deflated and bored, and a bizarre dark comedy centered on an anthropomorphic, disconcertingly sexual bottle of MLM snake oil. You'll never look at your one strident product-touting Facebook friend the same way again.

An interesting mix of light family drama, Dickensian holiday self-reflection, and some traditional Santa tropes, "Visit" is something of a grand tour through the holiday, structured around an homage to "'Twas the Night Before Christmas." Guaranteed to generate a warm fuzzy for anyone with a fondness for the Christmas season, and to generate some laughs and smiles along the way.

Had the pleasure of acting in this piece at the Valdez Theatre Conference and greatly enjoyed it. It tackles modern issues (religious speech, entertainer/politicians) but feels very much timeless; it's shambolic, large-cast nature and indeterminate setting all give it the feel of a play put on by a traveling troupe in some undisclosed boondocks. Equal parts funny and chilling, it really does feel like a play for our times, and for all other times as well. Would be very fun to stage.