Recommended by Kim E. Ruyle

Humor can be a great way to penetrate serious themes, and Andy has struck comedy gold with the clever premise and dialogue which leads to a thought-provoking conclusion. I wondered if there was a young person, the owner of Ken and Joe, who was manipulating the characters. But in the end, I concluded the inventive animation was all Andy. Terrific!

Some people choose to unburden themselves on a therapist’s couch. Not Lores. Instead, she creates a theatrical circus featuring performers who are closest to her in real-time – daughter, Doll, and best friend, Joan – as well as her mother who returns from the dead to haunt her psyche. Just Ignore Me is impossible to ignore. Creative. Theatrical. Incisive. A woman’s frustration, pain, and loss played out for us under a big top. Outstanding.

Marj Bicknell starts with a great premise - a vaudevillian bigamist caught in his web of deceit by three women. The setting, Duluth, Minnesota, in 1915 is fantastic. Lots of theatricality here! Lots of high energy, fun roles for actors. And lots of laughs for the audience!

A hilarious poke in the eye of pretention, political correctness, and the entitlement of theatre personalities. Terrific characters, truly funny dialogue, and boiling conflict. Wonderful!

Ryan Kaminski’s play takes off from the opening pages. Conflict, revenge, suspense, and maybe even a hint of romance. Frank, a therapist who’s spurned by his wife, lets his emotions get the best of him and exercises poor judgment in recruiting one of his patients to exact his revenge. Bit by bit, everything inevitably comes undone. A fast-moving, suspenseful play.

Delightfully profane and creative – the melding of the amicable, almost saintly Ingalls family with the “Bloody Benders,” a family of murderous demons. Lawing delivers this unlikely story in a highly playful and theatrical way. Great!

Annie is thrown into a hot mess when she returns after her mom’s death to help out in the family restaurant. The conflict, secrets, and cream sauce swirl in this well-crafted world and give us some great theatrical moments. The heart of the story is the family bond. And there is perhaps no family bond stronger than one that forms between those to pour their heart and soul into a family business. McClain’s play illustrates this perfectly.

Creative. Suspenseful. And highly theatrical. D. Lee Miller has written a powerful play, a mystery with complex characters and a perplexing puzzle that gets filled in piece by piece but never giving away the full picture until the startling conclusion. Terrific.

Jack Levine spins a tale of loss, collapse, and, ultimately, of redemption. The difficulties faced by Daniel continue to pile up to present an immense mountain from which he slips and begins tumbling out of control. The saving grace for Daniel is the support of loved ones – his wife, best friend, boss, and even his bartender. It’s a heartbreaking story but one that has an ending tinged with hope. Well done.

Who doesn’t love a good arepa? I never thought of them, though, as defensive weapons. This play is so much fun. Clever. Highly theatrical. And a thought-provoking meaningful fable to boot. Oh, the humanity! Oh, the hippopotami!