Recommended by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend

I love this! Three women have come to the beach and are excited to have a good time - if they can work up the nerve to take off their covers and stand in public in a bathing suit. This short tribute to female friendships and learning to love your body will make you smile.

Oh my gosh, this monologue broke my heart. Sometimes you forget how hard it was to be a kid and feel powerless, and then someone like Asher Wyndham comes along and writes a monologue to help you remember. A beautiful testament to resilience and an important reminder for us adults to have the backs of all the dino kids out there.

Given all the images of the destruction Hurricane Ida recently delivered, this monologue felt very timely. I love a piece that can both captivate you and sound the alarm on climate change at the same time. What an important message for our times, so grippingly told.

In this short play, Jackie is wallowing in misery, unable to let go of her hatred for her ex-boyfriend, whom she had loved so much that she had unwittingly transferred all of her guardian angels to him during their relationship. But now a new guardian angel has shown up to remind her that she is more than this, and that she has the power to reclaim her life and her joy. “Inhale and Exhale” is both hilarious and poignant, reminding us that our choices make us who we are, so rebirth is always within our control.

I love the idea of a pet psychic, and I really enjoyed the specific examples Shannon gives Catrina of pets that she's helped over the course of her career. A humorous case of misunderstanding turns into what seems like the possible beginnings of a friendship. I would love to follow Shannon through a series of short plays in which she helps pets heal emotionally.

Well this is delightful. Such engaging dialogue and two terrific roles for women over 50. This short play had me grinning the whole way through, and the ending was perfect. I'm sure this would be an audience favorite in any 10 minute play festival. I only wish it were longer, so I could spend more time with these sisters.

The language in this play is gorgeous and really sets the tone of this strange sanctuary set apart from normal life, where passion is valued and allowed to run as free as it needs to, whether that will end well or end badly. An interesting look at how beauty and suffering always seem to be entwined, "The Form of Steel" gives you a lot to think about, with sword fighting duels along the way.

As a former US history teacher, I am the target audience for plays about American presidents. "The Ghost of a Chance" is about the ghost of Harry Truman showing up at Camp David in 1979 to try to help Jimmy Carter win reelection, and I loved it. The debates they have (Can you be both a good person and a successful politician? How do we overcome American ignorance? Do Americans want their presidents relatable or larger than life?) are debates we are still having today. What a unique play about America's past, present, and what we want for the future.

This short play about a librarian giving unwanted advice is terrific. A teenager has come to the library to find a biography on an important historical figure, and the librarian suggests all of his favorite people, none of whom resonate with the girl (His reaction to her comments about Teddy Roosevelt was particularly funny.) This play touches on so many different things in only ten pages, including the domination of white men in the realm of the 'historically important' and the fact that women can (and do) find themselves trapped literally anywhere by men in conversations they can't gracefully escape.

What a sweet short play! I loved watching these two women feel their way around each other, as we all do when first interacting with someone who gives us butterflies and we struggle to discern what exactly this relationship is going to be - and what exactly we'd like it to be. John Mabey always writes such realistic, relatable characters, and "The Legend of Snails" is no exception. And bonus: I got to learn several fantastic tidbits about snail sex. Ten minutes well spent!