Recommended by Tom Moran

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.

Considine's imaginative spin on epigenetics takes on a lot in 10 minutes: family estrangement, historical drama, LGBTQ issues - and weaves them into a drama rooted in very human stories. An interesting concept spun into an absorbing short piece.

Higbee uses one of the great works of antiquity as a jumping-off point for some inspired silliness in this winning comic short, leading up to a fun and knowing punchline.

A taut, absorbing, thought-provoking drama that is probably the best play I saw at this year's Valdez Theatre Conference. Gernand takes a relatively minor bit of vandalism and spins it into an engrossing (and often quite funny) tale filled with richly-drawn and wholly believable characters. It's piece that takes us on a real journey even as it stays rooted in time and place.