Recommended by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend

For those of us who have ever worked in the service industry, this short is a reminder of how thankless it can be. I love that Toby Malone has taken the premise beyond just the overly demanding customer and long-suffering server and upped the stakes with Andy's urgent need to go to the bathroom. There's verbal comedy, there's physical comedy, and there's a special place in hell for people who make baristas reopen a closed espresso machine. This piece would be a great showcase for two actors - there is a lot to mine here.

Who knew so many different phrases can be abbreviated POD? The word play comes fast and furious in this short, and I enjoyed the back and forths as Princess and Dude tried to crack the code of the mysterious "POD" text they both received. This is definitely a Play Of Delight! (...Charles Scott Jones's POD phrases are better than mine.)

Well, this is a delight. A COVID-era take on Waiting for Godot, Valerie and Esther are waiting for their host to arrive in a Zoom meeting in this short. Their quick and hilarious dialogue keeps you entertained as they kill time waiting for the meeting to start, and there's even a reveal about their relationship that made me laugh out loud. What a fun piece!

This short Zoom play is powerful. It deals with climate change, loss, and bearing witness, and serves as a warning as to where we are all headed if we don't change our ways. Human beings have gotten used to using things and throwing them away, and Aly Kantor takes this trait to a heightened (but plausible) place, with humanity discarding Earth and taking to space in search of a new home. Kim and Leta stay behind, preserving and honoring what is being lost. If we all loved like they do, the planet would be in much better shape.

This short play is poetry! The same person is portrayed at 20, 80, and 1,000, and all these versions of the person are having a conversation with each other - or, rather, talking at each other: not appreciating what each age has to offer, not seeing the good in each age, only the bad. There is so much here that I want to read it through several more times. This play is unique and beautiful. It would be a stand-out for me in an evening of shorts. Plus it made me feel guilty about all the bread I've fed ducks.

I read this one for the title, and it turned out to be a lovely little play! There are some great opportunities for physical comedy, and I really loved the ending. I'm sure Arthur Miller would agree.

A man and a woman meet in a bar during happy hour in this short, and they find that they make each other happy. The dialogue is quick and playful and poignant, and I would love to see what happens to these two when happy hour ends. Glenn Alterman has created a pair of rich, complicated characters in only ten minutes.

This short play inspired by Dickens' A Christmas Carol focuses on the boy at the end who tells Scrooge it's Christmas Day and who Scrooge pays to fetch the prized turkey. He returns home to his impoverished mother and sister, and we see how Scrooge's generosity affects them, and how a little generosity is contagious. The period language is spot on, and I loved seeing this side of the story!

This short play is darling! And so clever! Jewish Liebowitz's new wife is Catholic, so he has a Christmas tree, which he feels a little weird about - and then the tree starts talking to him, which he feels a LOT weird about. A sweet play about an unlikely friendship and recognizing our "forest". Lovely!

This fantastic play flawlessly tackles a Big Question in only five pages and sticks the landing with the perfect twist. Plus there's jokes! I particularly enjoyed the Mamma Mia bit. What a wonderful, wonderful play!