Recommended by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend

Wow, this play. Vee finds a finger in a box. I have SO MANY QUESTIONS. Luckily, so does Vee, and this whole play delves into the questions and answers surrounding this finger's discovery while jumping back and forth in time in a way that really works well, keeping you engaged and running to catch up. This is a weird one in the best way. It will stick with me.

I was not expecting to love the fact that this play is set in the 1980s as much as I did, but all the tiny 80s details woven into it took me back to my childhood and made me feel super nostalgic while at the same time feeling nervous for these characters and the choices being made in this story of eating disorders, religion, and theft - and boy, is that a strange combination of emotions. But it worked! The characters all felt real and flawed in different ways. I especially enjoyed Tommy's monologues in the car. Great stuff!

This short dark comedy is hilarious. Two parents discuss the bombshell that their son’s teacher has been having an affair with a student, and are a little miffed that the student wasn’t their son, who is, after all, objectively the best looking kid in the class. I love a good twist on expectations and this play delivers just that.

This play is great. Two kids who are confined to the backyard while one's mom and the other's dad "hang out" spy on neighbors, eat forbidden food, and discuss a whole range of topics, from the appropriately juvenile to the surprisingly deep. It is funny and sad and I love that, at the end, what these two kids grow up to be is left for you to puzzle out, just as they've been puzzling things out the whole play long. With dialogue that rings true to children and a neighbor that I adored, this is a terrific play.

It may be set in a fictitious world, but this play feels very relevant to the times we've been living through for the last year and a half: A plague is sweeping the country, and the folks in a dangerous cult gaining power believe only in cures directly from God, not in scientific cures. Plus women aren't valued. It takes place during the Renaissance era, but it feels very relatable - which made cheering our heroine on feel even more cathartic.

This short comedy is a lot of fun, and offers great opportunities for visual and physical comedy! I thoroughly enjoyed watching this family interact. I especially loved the kids' reactions to their dad wearing pants that are way too tight. Any play that begins with a guy asking of the pants currently on his body, "Whose pants are these?" is going to be a good time for sure.

This dark comedy is super entertaining! Matthew and Tina have a toxic marriage, and Christopher is the gay friend with a crush on Matthew, who's a little homophobic... The dialogue was fast and smart and fun, and I loved watching the stakes go higher and higher. This is a very smart comedy about people who love each other in a flawed way, which is basically just how humans love. With a small cast and a simple set, this would be an easy-to-stage, entertaining piece for any theater company.

Oooh I love this short play! I love that Sister Agatha is a "cool" nun rather than dogmatic, and I love that the play ends without everything tied up and resolved, just like life. John Mabey's plays are always engaging and touching and wonderful, and this one is no exception.

I adore this play!! Three brothers are in town for their father's funeral, and their father left one son more money than the others -but why? The dialogue is quick and smart and very funny. I really enjoyed listening to this little, flawed family come to terms with so many things. I also really loved all the tiny, subtle things that made me laugh in the midst of this larger conversation about very un-funny things. What a great piece!

As someone about to turn 41 (still a baby! Still the younger generation.. right??) this monologue felt very on point in its description of how we view life at different stages as we age. I've had a lot of feelings that I didn't quite know how to articulate since entering my 40s, and this monologue gives voice to them in the most perfect way. I love when art does that: puts in words a feeling that I had, but wasn't sure how to explain. This monologue is a perfect example of how theater can make you feel less alone.