Recommended by Toby Malone

  • Lady Macbeth and Her Pal, Megan
    25 Aug. 2020
    A beautifully intimate, fearless one-person show which acts as autobiography, confessional, and bucket list checker all at the same time. What better way for Megan to work her way through her ambition of playing Lady Macbeth than to explain all the reasons why she shouldn't - which winds up being the exact reason why there are elements to that play that are perfect for her - even beyond the femme fatale? This is honest, raw, hilarious, and totally accessible. Terrific stuff.
  • Obstacle
    24 Aug. 2020
    Wow. The feeling of dread and inevitability that shows up in the first paragraph of this monologue never lets you go for a second, as you know where this is headed and you can't possibly figure out how to make it go right. The heartbreaking admission of a driver's-ed teacher who has one form of crisis training but not the one he needs is frank, poignant, and vital to where we are in the world right now. This would be a great actor's challenge. Great work.
  • In A World...
    24 Aug. 2020
    The hapless Carl Dimby has his confidence elevated, and then shattered, by being narrated at by the ubiquitous voice-over guy speaking nonsensical bromides with tremendous authority. Carl tries to take his newfound voice-over confidence along on a date, only to find there is a price to be paid for having such a wingman. This would be a blast for a small cast to workshop and perform.
  • Drain
    24 Aug. 2020
    Sometimes it takes a playwright pushing things to their extremest ends to make you realize just how nearby those ends seem. This is a haunting, plausible, terrifying short play that may seem like several steps too far but haven't we already gone many steps past too far and watched the world shrug? Where does it stop?
  • YOUNG VETERAN ADAM AMERSON: A MONOLOGUE
    24 Aug. 2020
    An impactful, heartbreaking monologue about how service renders veterans lost and struggling with hardly a way out. Adam is drunk throughout and is sensitively drawn, avoiding the caricature that he could become but rather exposing the raw pain of feeling passed by, dismissed, abandoned. Sadly too real.
  • Canes Urbana
    23 Aug. 2020
    Sometimes all you need to start your day is a fun, quippy, to-the-point short about two disillusioned coyotes lamenting the fact that they eat a couple of house cats and _they_ are suddenly the bad guys? Ralph and Bert have an easy, playful connection that definitely asks questions about everyone's place on the food chain. Lots of fun.
  • A Pirate Carol
    23 Aug. 2020
    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.
  • The Home for Retired Canadian Girlfriends
    22 Aug. 2020
    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.
  • My Body
    21 Aug. 2020
    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.
  • The Syllabus
    20 Aug. 2020
    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.

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