Recommended by Kim E. Ruyle

Wow! Burgess has created a dystopian world populated on one side with a band of rebels led by courageous, enterprising Betty. On the other side, the Council, brutal oppressors of the general population. It’s a violent world that Betty aims to set right. The musical interludes are a perfect complement. Lam is inventive. It’s horrifying in the best way. The ending is a shocker. Highly recommended.

I think of Week’s Respite as a tragicomedy. Nicole’s cluelessness is very funny, but the situation O’Neill-Butler serves up is thought-provoking and will make us all think about and appreciate the selfless caregivers among us. Well done.

Rachel Feeny-Williams has the answer to restoring balance to the universe – a facilitator named Kevin, a spot of tea and cakes, and a world cruise. That’s just Vera’s side of the equation. For unruly teenaged Oscar, the solution is much more severe but will undoubtedly have the desired results. In a world out of balance, one could wish for more Kevins, but at least we have thought-provoking and entertaining plays like Balance the books.

Bhattacharya captures cat personality as Phoebe, a depressed, hypochondriac intern comically catalogues a huge variety of rare diseases she believes is afflicting her. Astro, a surgical resident does her best to cheer her roommate, and the cat provides comic relief and questionable help for Phoebe.

You don’t have to be a devotee of impressionist art, as I am, to be enthralled by the story of Berthe Morisot and her relationship with the Manet brothers. Cole does an excellent job of conveying the tone of the era, the language, proprieties, and indiscretions. The use of projected artwork is a wonderful complement to the storytelling. I’ve always appreciated Morisot as an artist, but Bouquet of Violets made me fall in love with Berthe Morisot, the person.

The Full Monty meets Steel Magnolias in The Full Magnolia, a meta-farce about a small community theatre that’s circling the drain. With only 11 tickets sold, the cast and crew must take a bold step to save their production and the theatre – a production sans costumes. It’s a great set up, a fantastic ensemble, and a script that’s filled with hilarious wordplay and physical comedy. Yes, it’s farcical, but there’s so much truth about actors and theatre revealed in this story. Terrific!

It’s amore! Sunday Sauce is a delightful, multi-generational love story that moves right along as Gram and Bruno prepare the sauce. You’ll be salivating and reaching for the pasta and a glass of chianti by the end.

Revival, the revival of a writing partnership and a relationship – “two white guys from the suburbs growing up, coming out, falling in and out of love, dealing with all the little fuck-ups of the human condition, gay or otherwise.” Scott wants to write about “us,” about what he really knows. And that’s what Philip Middleton Williams does so well. There’s some inside baseball here about theatre and agents, and it’s all terrific. Revival had me leaning in from the first page. Bravo!

Prillaman has a gift for naturalistic dialogue and spinning an absurd, engaging story from something as mundane as standing guard over a piece of art. There’s so much to love about this play. It’s funny. It’s thought-provoking. It’s brilliant.

Oh, the absurdity, the suffering, the futility of life. What’s meaningful? What’s not? By spouting what appears to be nonsense, Soucy's characters reveal how religion and politics can result in violence and oppression. Is this play a tragedy? I found the answer embedded in the dialogue: “Tragedy is a collection of lies that tug at the invisible, inscrutable dynamic mechanisms of the dead gods who feast upon our sorrow like pigs on jars of persimmon jelly!” Persimmon jelly never tasted so good!