Recommended by Toby Malone

A rollicking, joyful adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' that is unashamedly fun and unabashedly loopy: what's not to like about a story of fatalistic ghosts (including a pirate cow!) that on the eve of 'Pirate Day', that Captain Nobeard must learn that to be a true pirate, she needs to stop being so kind and huggy. Great fun: companies and audiences alike would have a blast working on this.

A creative, imaginative explosion of that old chestnut of the "i have a girlfriend but you can't meet her because she lives in Canada" trope, and boy, does it deliver! John Bavoso gives Tiffany humanity and depth as she deals with being shelved on what is beautifully styled as 'Black Friday' in the closeted fake companions realm. This is layered, nuanced, and fun. Great stuff.

A wonderfully caustic, wise piece of writing that exposes the ridiculousness of one gender imposing their opinion on the bodies of another. This piece masterfully escalates the shocking lengths to which these characters interact to whole-heartedly stomp home the point that men have no place legislating womens' bodies. Great work.

In days like we're currently enduring, this short sketch of the blithe willingness some people have to turning a blind eye to what's happened in the past and by extension what will happen again is truly shocking, but yet a half hour in front of any news cycle tells you that Scott Sickles' prescient vision isn't far from the truth. As a world with our heads buried in the sand, it's sad that the people who would benefit most from reading this are the very ones who would refuse to believe there's a problem.

A beautifully wrought ten minute play that tells us one thing but means another entirely, as Price slowly draws us to the conclusion that there is a much more pressing, human, and desperately sad destination ahead before the rodeo can begin. Kudos for not attempting to take easy answers or trite conclusions, but leaving it up to the performers to wring the substance from the unspoken. Great work.

Wow! John Mabey takes a story thread we all think we know - 'The Emperor's New Clothes' - and blows it open into a thrilling, heartfelt, sensitive journey through concerns of identity, self-perception, and speaking one's truth. The technological asks are masterful and so relatable ("hatters" killed me) and this is a piece that has so many possible modalities that it's honestly exactly what we need right now. Read this play.

Nick Malakhow has such a gift with character that this short play, based around an imagined meeting during a renowned scientific study, just oozes with personality, spark, anxiety, and texture. It's always a treat to read one of Nick's plays, and to fully experience his vibrant, breathing, boundless character studies. Great work.

An inventive, touching short about a haunted couch, although that doesn't really do it justice. A great little piece about how we hold on to the past and how sometimes the past holds on to us. It does a wonderful job of not trying to over-explain the magic involved in the situation (see: haunted couch) but just lets it play out and reckons with the human impact of those choices. Great stuff.

An incredibly nuanced, evocative, impactful short that weaves the lives of hitchhikers together with the pulsating presence of the highway, in a stunning choral sense. Don't rush past the character descriptions or stage directions, as there is as much meat in there as in most dialogic dramas. Spare, unnerving, deep, and plaintive, there is a hopelessness that seeps out of every line in this work. Wonderful stuff.

A yearning, in-depth, asynchronous deep dive into the connections we make and the way in which we strain to capture the intangible. Knight is fearless in her approach to Glen, a house painter who has carried buried meaning ascribed to a house he worked on years ago, leaving the audience to ask questions, make connections, and seek conclusions that leave you gasping. A real achievement. I've found myself listening for the silence more and more since reading this play.