Recommended by T. Reid Kirtley

Will Arbery's 'Heroes of the Fourth Turning' presents the idea that "the Left will eat itself," and just as quickly as it does so, it shows us the truth: that the Right will eat itself too. A haunting and deeply classical new American play that, with minimal physical action or spectacle, takes us to the complex core of the void that is American Conservatism in the deep Wyoming night.

A meaningful and deeply textual journey through the life of Woman and the Man she loves. Alayna Jacqueline's play 'It's Too Cold For You Here' abstracts time and space while using lighting, shadow, and memory to bring us through the depths of a series of life-altering events. This play is as tough as it is tender, with a vicious cyclical twist. From a staging standpoint, this play feels incredibly accessible, and I would love to see the many possibilities of where this play could go on stage!

A deeply chilling and disturbing piece of Historical Magical-Realism, and a testament to the idea that evil knows no gender or sexuality. The characters are as cruel as they are lifelike, and the ensemble is utilized horrifyingly yet effectively well. This play ruminates on some of the most atrocious circumstances in global history and makes us acutely aware of our own voyeurism as bystanders to these kinds of evildoings.

I enthusiastically recommend this fever dream of a truly original American musical theatre piece (and that's coming from someone who is a major hard-sell on a lot of things musical theatre)! This immersive musical had me constantly putting my guard down only to surprise me, so simply and lovingly, with every twist, turn, jingle, or song. Surrender yourself to the small revolutions and massive realizations of this play today, for a theatrical treat!

Part bar play, part memory play, 'Tall Tales' by River Timms explores the religious undertones of the unexplainable horrors and happenings of a small Southern town. Talks of revivals and conservative political campaigns haunt this text as much as the ghosts do, sending its characters into a moral tailspin of faith vs. future. What happened then? Where are we now? Where do we go from here? ...and what is that terrible THING everyone keeps seeing? 'Tall Tales' spins one hell of a Queer ghost story.

'A Witness' is a wonderfully pensive play that explores structures of connectedness and what happens when things 'end'. The characters and their dialogue feel effortlessly contemporary and relatable, which really drew me in as the pages flew by; furthermore, watching Queer and Femme characters navigating the realm of depression, chronic illness, and assisted suicide was very refreshing and never taken lightly. Really enjoyed this play!

This piece is as youthful and tender as it is serious and filled with clouded nostalgia. Nick Malakhow has touched on trauma, sexual assault, social/power structures in small towns, and the formation of gay and bisexual identities in our youth in this beautifully poignant play. As a queer person recommending this, I felt Malakhow's characters to be very authentic and relatable in both dialogue and the lovely performative quirks within the stage directions for the respective roles. Also: the ending of this play gutted me, emotionally! Would love to see this staged!

Painfully honest and quietly deceptive, 'Animals Commit Suicide' is a play steeped in Queer history and subculture, making its beautiful, complicated home somewhere in-between. J. Julian Christopher has crafted a play that is not bashful or shy in its representation of drug use, gay intimacy, or living with HIV/AIDs, and that makes this play feel all the more important and timely. I was struck by how Christopher explores themes of suicide and death in a careful and nuanced way that I think all queer people at risk of contracting HIV have thought about in one way or another.

From a mysterious sentence to a thrilling play, 'We Will Not Describe The Conversation' is a gripping parable about murder and memory. Eugenie Carabatsos excitingly explores ideas and nuances of repressed femme power in stark contrast to the violent reality of masculinity and the overwhelmingly patriarchal world we live in today. Yet another wildly successful theatre piece that has found its own unique world tucked away in the pages of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment; yet this play has a haunting agenda all it's own. A fantastic read, and a play worth producing for sure!

Fly Jamerson has queered the Three Sisters in a way that feels like a deconstruction of heteronormative patterns and traditional values both Russian & Theatrical. I was compelled and gripped by the raw, earnest (and songlike) honesty that spills out of each of the characters in this version of the classic Chekov family play. I feel that Jamerson has really honed in on the original forms of social commentary that Chekov valued, and written about them from such a fresh and personal perspective. By far my favorite Chekov adaptation, and a play with a beast to be tamed... or not!