Recommended by D. Lee Miller

GOOD GRIEF by Philip Middleton Williams is a great addition to his already wonderful growing oeuvre. Williams shines a light on Dan's grief that manages to beautifully convey the underside -- in this case, not the darkness but the light. As pain is necessary to warn you of an illness, so does grief have its positive and negative sides. This is a beautiful and hopeful play in the context of the pain all humans share.

It is true: whenever I read a John Minigan play I fall in love with his writing again. CLOSING DOORS has a motor in it that will keep you shaking. There is no answer in this superbly written play. How we save our children in active-shooter drills will never be fail safe - But we have to keep trying so long as we allow guns freely in our country. Well done!

You can't help but focus on the characters in SEAL ISLAND by John Patrick Bray's. This particular play is a Selkie play, a lovely modern tale that shows how haunting magic fits into our modern lives. All the descriptions of folktales is true here and yet we have characters actively pursuing their lives and the right mate. Does time really change? As an old teacher of mine once said, 'It is there if you only look'.

A BEVIN BOY'S PROGRASS by Alice Josephs is an eye-opening piece - to this American - as it brings you to the coal pits of England in WWII. It is almost a choral collage as we follow a teen with big heroic dreams of helping his country get assigned to be a Bevin's Boy, a miner. A surely heroic job - but without the recognition and glitz. Today, we call them 'essential workers'. The physical brutality of the job is beautifully described amidst the teen's appeal. And when the mine collapses - another surprise: Paul Robeson. These miners were heroes.

BE THAT AS IT MAY by Andrew Martineau presents us with a suicidal professor getting laid off. And it's funny. Have you ever heard that before? Martineau twists his characters until they conflict with their own actors. A fun layered play with lots of room for actors and director to play with!

CELESTIAL CLASS PHOTO by Lucy Wang has so much to offer young audiences. A fun into to astronomy, Wang uses physical movement, color, jokes, costumes -- a warm way to get inside children's minds and leave them smiling like all the 'planets' in their school picture. Using science - the Hubble telescope - as the photographer is the perfect touch to an animated, fun play for any young children. This play will capture the kids.

Lermond does it again! Her audio-play, the mystery, FRAMED, is another "Stillwell" mystery - and lots of fun. This author can capture character and story in a few words and lead them to a big story. You can hear the sounds, taste and smell the food - even the mustiness of the jumble shop as the investigators do their sleuthing. A fun time for all!

Oh, I love this monologue, JOY, by Victoria Z. Daly. We are there from thought conception to actual conception. We know this woman - we feel the physical sensation of life 'taking'. We feel the sudden call as a mother who no longer is conscious of her pain but of her child's first moments. Wonderful writing by Daly brings this woman and her moment of joy to us. Well done!

Emma Goldlman-Sherman's ABSTRACT PARENTS bares the fears of adoption, along with the workings of a marriage. This play is a wonderful view of the outset of adoption - the thoughts and feelings that pummel adoptive parents and just why people adopt in the first place. It is also good for birth parents that have not considered adoptive parents. This is a well-written, character driven play that would fare well in any festival. Kudos to Goldman-Sherman for exposing this rarely seen corner of life!

Although LOVE TRUST ESCALATION is a well-written play by Robert LeBlanc, a wonderful writer - my dream casting is Carol Burnett and Harvey Korman. They did sketches - and this has more to it than that - but the hilarity that ensues when the truths come out can be as broad as you'd like. Cheers to LeBlanc for this comedy!