Recommended by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend

Too much fun! What a gift for a pair of comedic actors this play is. It's broad and hilarious and light, and then all of a sudden you realize the play is giving you life advice - in a board, hilarious way. This short would enliven any evening of short plays!

What a beautiful short play! John Minigan plays are always more than they first appear, and I loved watching the story unfold, collecting subtle bits of exposition to piece together the back story of how these two women each ended up at the lagoon. There's so much richness and detail even though the play is only ten minutes long. What a lovely piece.

I could not love this more. I want Matt Barbot to rewrite the entire Bible. This 10-minute two hander between Joseph and a Bethlehem hotel concierge is perfection. If I saw this play in an evening of shorts, this would be the one I'd try to reenact the next day for all my friends who didn't have tickets. I wouldn't do it justice. You should read this.

I love Colette Mazunik's writing. The dialogue! The specifics! The callbacks that she manages to fit into a 27-page play without it feeling forced! Amazing. I love that we learn almost as much about these two characters from what's not said as we do from what's spoken. I'm going to be thinking about the ending and what it could mean for a while.

I was not prepared for this! This short play about two actors, each vying to play Madonna in the Madonna biopic, is funny and frantic - but also sad in what it reveals about being female in the entertainment industry, while at the same time managing to remain hopeful. There's a surprising amount to digest in this little short about a pop icon. Lovely!

What I love about this short is we can all relate to Carmen, as we’ve all had jobs that feel a bit over our heads- never mind that Carmen is an assassin. I love all the delightful little surprises as the story unfolds, and I would love a sequel to see what happens to these three next. (Especially Gino!)

This short play about a US Senator in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in his state is powerful, full of righteous rage, and cathartic at the end. I wish it were required reading for the US Congress, who offer thoughts and prayers instead of policy and change no matter how many children die. This is political theater at its finest.

This short play about the not-too-distant future is a perfect commentary on capitalism, drug companies, and how mental health is treated in America. Which is to say it's depressing and sad and enraging and makes you want to get up and change things - this is the near future after all, not the present. The characters have so much specificity and depth for a 10-minute play, and you're left grappling with all kinds of emotions over characters you've only known for a few minutes, because Aly Kantor is fantastic.

Having sat through literal years of improv shows in Chicago, this short play is too perfect. What a fantastic, original premise which somehow manages to continue to heighten and get more insane as the play progresses. This would absolutely kill (see what I did there?) in a night of shorts.

My favorite part of this short was how the ghost tour guide was really phoning it in, delivering lackluster commentary about the surroundings like, "Here. There." The play goes from intriguing to perplexing to foreboding in only ten minutes. This short and spooky play would be a great addition to a Halloween-themed play festival!