Recommended by Kim E. Ruyle

What a nightmarish scenario! Deb Cole immediately drew me into the world of Chloe and David. I felt their hopes and dreams, their frustration, and their panic. Dream House is fast paced, well structured, and thoroughly engaging. Highly recommended.

Hapless, self-centered Charles – in spite of his flaws, one can’t help but feel a twinge of sympathy when Annie Jo smacks him between the eyes with the truth about his failure to listen, to really listen. Karen Saari delivers a story with a clever premise, flawed but likeable characters, and a great deal of theatricality served up with poetry, sorcery, black salt, and an ill-fitting Vanilla Ice t-shirt. And she brings it all to a poignant and highly satisfying ending.

Dana Hall has written a heart-wrenching story of a family dealing with a mental health crisis. It’s a complex situation that envelopes each family member in sometimes surprising ways. The characters are distinctly drawn – each is flawed, but each is likeable. You can’t help but root for these characters and their family which includes 18-year-old Penny’s mother, father, and aunt. The degree to which mental health issues impact each family member is stunning. The theatrical moments involving a water tower, a renegade squirrel, and runaway house plants beautifully complement the psychological issues at play. Well done!

A fast-paced hilarious Christmas comedy. Great characters, so many funny one-liners, and How to Survive Your Family at Christmas even manages to deliver a message without saccharine sweetness. Read this play! Your intellectual-logic and Occam’s Razor will tell you to get the Nutt family on stage, while shaving! Highly recommended.

A theatre on the brink has more than financial problems. The drama playing out in the theatre company may pose an even greater threat. When Warren, a novice playwright, pitches a possible solution to the hard-bitten artistic director and idealistic young assistant, there’s a clash of values and agendas. Opposing Teams tackles several thorny issues faced by theatres and artists, issues that may be addressed when opposing teams learn to collaborate. And, after all, isn’t theatre the most collaborative of art forms?

Christopher Plumridge and Morey Norkin. Who are they really? Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett? George and Ira Gershwin? Maybe they’re really Dan Aykroyd and Steve Martin? Read (A Day in) the Life of Pie, and you’ll be convinced they’re all rolled into one amazing playwriting duo. This play is a riot! Creative. Fresh. So much fun. Let’s see more from a Plumridge-Norkin collaboration! Highly recommended.

This is excessively fun! I can only imagine that Neil Radtke had almost as much fun writing it as the audience will have seeing it. The never-ending stream of laugh lines carries the actors and audience together on a hilarious ride. Highly recommended.

Rachel Feeny-Williams has crafted a mystery that centers on Eddie and Lisa, brother and sister devoted to each other and both holding secrets. A murder puts DI Jenkins in aggressive pursuit of Eddie, the prime suspect. Williams does a great job of keeping us guessing, and although Eddie and Lisa are sympathetic characters, the possibility of their guilt is all too real. No spoilers here, but it’s enough to say, the mystery isn’t predictable. A Believe Me is a compelling mystery with a surprising conclusion.

Aly Kantor uses an economy of authentic dialogue to paint a vivid picture of a dystopian world in which two sisters say goodbye. Their anguish is palpable. The story is haunting. An audience will find a staged production of One More Hot Garbage unforgettable. Highly recommended.

Pity 16-year-old Levon. He’s got a learning disability, deep psychological problems, and a father who, although well intentioned, seems incapable of relating to his son. Levon's been forsaken by his mother, a stripper, and abused by his mother’s boyfriend. He has at least one thing going for him, a caring teacher. Athena has her own issues, but she doesn’t let them get in the way of intervening on the part of Levon and perhaps finding some happiness of her own. In the end, we’re left hopeful Levon will find some stability and happiness.