Recommended by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend

I was on board with this play about art competition judges from the line, "I have stigmata on my eyes, I just know it." This short comedy about the subjectivity of art and the standards to which we ourselves feel we are constantly being held and judged for is delightful! The dialogue is hilarious and I loved the reveal of what kind of art competition this was. This is a smart, funny way to spend ten minutes.

This short is a JOY. A JOY. Simultaneously a stark look at our climate-changed future and a comedy satirizing theater artists of Chicago, LA, and NYC, this play is Too Much Fun from start to finish. As a fellow Chicagoan, I am looking forward to the post-climate apocalypse theater scene here. As much teasing as this play includes, it also feels like a love letter to Chicago theater. Now I want to read everything Paul Michael Thomson has written. And so should you! Start with this.

It's Barbara's birthday, and her daughter, Bonnie, has granted her wish! I was hooked from the moment Barbara and Lyla entered the cabin and saw what the wish was. This fun and darkly funny play hurtles along to its (surprise!) conclusion, and I loved every minute of it.

I once witnessed an exchange between a woman and a man in which the woman was talking about her daughter, and when the man asked what her daughter was doing these days, she said her daughter had died. The man immediately apologized for bringing up sad memories, but the woman smiled and said, "Oh, they're happy memories. Very happy memories." This one minute play about a woman at the gay pride parade, celebrating her deceased son, reminds me of that. Keyes perfectly captures the sorrow at what she's lost along with the joy of what she was gifted.

Ooooh this spooky monologue is wonderful!! Tony is a security guard filling in for a guy who works the graveyard shift under the George Washington Bridge, and he passes an unnerving night. The tension builds as the monologue progresses, and at several points I wanted to shout 'GO BACK INSIDE THE BOOTH, TONY!!!" Rarely do you find a monologue as captivating as this one.

"A few years ago, Darma dumped me. I am so over her now." And so begins this funny monologue in which Rick gleefully tells us the tale of how karma caught up to Darma. I'm not quite sure he's as over his dumped-by-Darma experience as he claims, but many of us have that ex to whom we wish only bad things. What a fun and relatable monologue with a victorious surprise at the end.

This play is fantastic. Four teenagers from a Korean Christian girls' youth group are on a mission trip to Thailand, where they find a hidden camera in their bathroom, placed there by their pastor. What to do? This play deals with what it means to be female in a world where 'boys will be boys,' and how you maintain your dignity and your worth in light of the constant ogling and judging by men. Jen's monologue about the guy in the grocery store parking lot was a particular standout moment for me. A wonderful portrayal of a complicated subject.

Oh my gosh, this play is so much fun. A vampire has been murdered at her crypt-warming party. Who could the murderer be? This play is delightful from start to finish as you watch the investigation unfold. What a clever, fun play for Halloween season or anytime!

It has been too long since I've read a Vince Gatton play! His dialogue is some of the best you'll ever read. I love the formal civility of Nathan in the face of an absolutely bonkers situation. ("I do hope you'll say more" made me laugh audibly.) This one act flies by as you try, along with Nathan, to figure out what is going on. And the visual of him traveling back and forth through the office hallways with all those balloons and cupcakes juxtaposed with the unnerving situation is perfection. Produce this!

I love this. In this short play, the God of Earth is told he's being reassigned to Eros. I especially loved the exchange about dinosaurs, but there is so much clever writing here that it's hard to chose a favorite part. This is smart satire about a God who isn't evolving as quickly as the humans he's in charge of, and it ends with a very funny and satisfying button. This is one tight, entertaining short that will leave you thinking long after it's over.