Recommended by Jonathan Alexandratos

I love this radio play. It gives us characters that represent walks of life that are different from mine, but the voices of these people are so real, so emotionally connectable, that I sympathize with them, and want to keep listening. Kamath has a talent for writing well-drawn, specific characters, and, per this radio play, using sound to cleverly create a mental "set" that exists vividly in our imaginations.

This is a necessary play about an incredibly real side of motherhood that is too often swept under the rug (and almost never dramatized). Kari Bentley-Quinn, here, not only tackles the issue of emotional distance and motherhood but does so through three-dimensional characters we see bits of ourselves in.

I'm so glad to have seen Joust's reading of this script, because not only is it beautiful on the page, it blooms onstage. Gina's words are heartfelt, honest, poetic, and real. She captures the three-dimensionality of coming-of-age in the shadow of abuse. When actors channel those words through their performances, and Gina's stage directions come to life, magic happens. Gina is one of the most emotionally honest writers working today, and this play is an excellent example of her power!

Jason Tseng has mastered the art of blending tropes from the Ancient Greek source material with aspects of their own cultures (Asian, American, Asian American, Queer). What results is a delightful retelling of a classic story. While there have been other adaptations of Oedipus, there haven't been any like this. It's blunt, never shying away from intensity and meaning. Each character is drawn specifically, using notes of their original counterparts, but plenty all their own, too. This play also has so many wonderfully theatrical elements that it demands to be produced immediately! I can't wait to see it!

YES! An awesome comic book play with humor and feeling. The setting (a comic shop) and characters (varieties of Shrewman/Shrew Man) are exactly the thing that entices theatre audiences - magical costumes on magical people in settings that inspire wonder (and, for some, evoke nostalgia). Place Ehrlich's clever dialogue in there, and you have a stellar short play. I would, in fact, happily watch more of the adventures of these characters, but that's not to say I'm left without a resolution, here. Hopefully, this play is done far and wide, True Believers!

Gijsbers van Wijk is a master at finding the heart and soul of sci-fi characters and settings and building a story around that. This 10-minute play is a great example of that talent! In a short amount of time, the playwright builds a world containing characters we emotionally invest in (because we relate to them, not because we're tricked into it), which makes the final loss of one land like a gut punch. We don't want to be done with this world, but we're glad we got to experience it, for however long. This is a fantastic piece!

It's a dinosaur in a waiting room! What's not to love about that!? But the play is also more. If you've ever held down a receptionist/front desk job, you know the pains of dealing with a difficult client and a difficult boss at the same time. Rueben takes that scenario into the realm of absurdity, here, with hilarious results. The creation of a dinosaur onstage (through physicality rather than costume, as the playwright suggests) would be marvelous to see, and, within Rueben's crisp, quick 10-minute comedy, the payoff would be great!

This play explores the subtlety of human sexual experiences in the best way possible - through a robot! Zora has a sex bot, Robert (a much-needed flip of the hetero guy with a sex doll trope), and their sex life brings up a question central to many sexual relationships: "Does this count?" Zutter is an expert at writing dialogue that builds to a rewarding payoff, all the while giving us characters we relate to and care about. This play demonstrates sci-fi's true power: to teach us something about ourselves. It's also hot as hell, but never exploitative or demeaning.

The emotional force of this play bleeds off the page. TUNNEL feels like a tunnel, one in which the journey is exciting, but the prospect of emerging out the other end makes you nearly ecstatic. At numerous points in this piece, I found myself in tears, not wanting to leave the characters Bashline created. Her emotions became mine, something I've never felt in a 10-minute piece before. This piece needs to be done now, and often. Thank you for this poetic, theatrical, and beautifully feminist play.

What's amazing about Duncan's prolific talent is the way he's able to speak so eloquently to multiple themes via the words of three-dimensional characters. THE UNDERPANTS GODOT is a great example of this. Here, we have characters, actors in a controversial production of WAITING FOR GODOT, who we care deeply for. We empathize with them. But we're also invested in the story: one that stands up for theatre and its many interpretations, and the many people who have a right to interpret. This is a wonderful play, and an outstanding play about plays!