Recommended by Toby Malone

In this new world, the simple things are more difficult than they have any right to be. In this charming, witty Zoom play, sexy talk is derailed by real life encroaching, politics, awkwardness and the pure artificiality of this new modality. Andrea Aptecker takes the inherent absurdity of hooking up in this new era and mines it for a fun, quippy take on the new world. Nice work!

This is a gentle, beautiful chronicle of a life lived with love, laughter, and heartbreak, and feels like an intensely personal purgation even while being witty, joyful, and (somehow) light. Williams infuses his characters with such life that you quickly learn to know them and love them, and ache for the what-ifs that stand between Allen and Philip. Lovely work.

Having dramaturged a handful of TJ Young's plays, I finally came to Dark Skinned Pavement fully aware of what he brings to the table: a poetic sensibility, a muscular voice, an uncanny ear for family dynamics, and an unerring rage for justice that barely bubbles below the surface. This reading blew me away as a play that we NEED in our society RIGHT NOW. As the shade of Martell flits around the edges, BJ and Harpo hang on by their fingertips, letting hope seep in to replace the dull ache that had been all-consuming. Stunning, vital, beautiful, wonderful. PRODUCE THIS.

A quick, incisive short by the always witty and insightful Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn. A cutting comment on self-worth, perception and this often brutal industry.

Steven G. Martin creates a meaningful, loving ode to self-forgiveness in his '153', where the version of a character at 45 lectures his own self at 18 as though he now has all the answers, only to be told by his own self at 90 that he hasn't even begun to learn yet. An ode to self-love and care, to accepting that mistakes make us who we are this world, and to realizing that we have never quite finished learning. Lovely and heartrending. 90 hugging 18 and forgiving 45 is a theatrical moment of beauty.

We don't get any context as to why this couple is apart for the first time in seven years, but boy do we get a lot of clues. A succinct, heartbreaking little play that affirms that 'time apart' can make the heart grow fonder... but not for everyone.

A stunning, aching meditation on life, love, and friendship, and how sometimes the relationships we leave behind and the choices we make leave trauma and regret. Rawlings beautifully captures the heartache of abandonment when it's impossible to quantify the betrayal of a friend being passed over for marriage, dashing the dreams of fantasy scenarios of "if we're not married by a certain date we'll marry each other." Expertly crafted, with a beautiful use of the river motif intertwined with the maid of honor's speech. Breathtaking work.

An absolute RIOT of a radio play, John Busser takes the form and genre and lovingly slaps it across the face with sound effects, quips, gags, and enough meta references to require one hell of a handsome universal donor. No matter what the characters in the play tell you, this is one writer who knows EXACTLY how to write an amazing radio play.

A taut ten minute play that explores the preoccupations that we find to avoid the things we really should be thinking about. Chelsea is a great, deep character with her laser focus on rescuing a feral cat from coyotes that is ultimately a metaphor for her own anxiety.

As a long-suffering Toronto sports fan (I guess not so much since last year's Raptors and a couple years of decent Blue Jay teams), this wonderful play hit me right in the YOGO muscle: the sense that You Only Get One team in each sport for your life. Jacob York's love letter to Atlanta sports is wrapped around a witty, heartfelt drama about love, loyalty, and getting what we (think we) want. Lovely work!