Recommended by Toby Malone

Another lovely play from Jennifer O'Grady that cuts right to the heart of a situation we can all recognize: hanging on to something for some reason - stubbornness, fear, habit - but not really being able to articulate why you can't quite do it. It's enough to make you scream. Scream. The fridge is such a lovely character, so sweet and eager to please, but completely baffled as to why it never quite works right. In the end, this speaks to anyone who's ever cared for someone despite (or because of?) their flaws. Great stuff.

A beautifully intimate, painfully familiar scene that crackles with the unspoken and throbs with the far-away ache of loneliness and longing. That sense that ex lovers could hang out as friends and not allow the old affection to override the reason that the breakup happened in the first place, and wrestling with all the reasons why a new hookup would be a bad idea. The stage directions, in particular, are human and spot-on descriptions of those breathing moments as everyone overthinks everything but has nothing real to say. Terrific work.

I saw Maggie Lou's work at the Marsh International Solo Festival in 2020 and was blown away with how different 'Antoine at the Border' is from that character - beautifully nuanced but modern, tough, and relentless. This 'what if' story of a maybe-switcheroo is humorous, wise, and dynamic, with wit and intruge for days. Great work from a gifted and versatile writer.

A beautifully realized exploration of grief, hope, and faith, written with a wry wit and a strong sense of structure. What might otherwise have been twee and predictable is a finely layered meditation on how we process loss.

A great short piece that asks real questions about identity and how we imprint ourselves on our names. Given the number of people on this earth, there's a really good chance someone out there shares your name: but what if that person rises to prominence as one of the most controversial and hated people in the country? Do you stick to your guns or do you disassociate? And what's the cost? This is sensitive, human, and the Bambi moment is a beautiful touch of texture. Great stuff.

A lovely, refreshing Waiting for Godot for Zoom, where two users wait for their host without any idea of who they are or what the meeting is for, interrupted by a curious zoom-bomber channel surfer. I love the lack of resolution but the intensely familiar take on a classic. Great work, Molly!

A fast-moving, relatable story that is probably far too familiar to most modern daters, where silence in response to a text can lead to a spiral that can't be retracted. Particularly fun is asking Siri about decoding the text-speak abbreviations. I think we just witnessed a bullet dodged.

A brilliantly structured monologue that you have to keep reminding yourself is entirely comprised of Cosmo headings, so well do they fit together. Particularly hilarious are the stage directions that guide us on this journey, and the 1-10 section finished me off. Impressive stuff.

John Busser is right on the money once again with this sharp, snappy short that manages to both be filled with ribald puns and absurd situations while also maintaining a dignity befitting the corporate hierarchy. From the character names to the situation, where corporate underlings are ranked by importance based on the urinal they are allowed to use, and only when the boss's stream is going, to the truly Monty Python-esque notion of urine flowing for minutes on end, this is a riot from start to finish.

A joyous roller-coaster ride of proto-swears that evolves catastrophically into the real deal, with a group of middle schoolers awaiting their fate after being caught using blue language in the schoolyard. Moves a mile a minute, always teetering on the edge of going entirely off the rails, replete with the injustice of being busted for another kid's actions. Delightful!