Recommended by Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend

I love theater and I love American history, so I am always excited when the two intersect in a well done way, and "JQA" is one such intersection. In addition to bringing these historical figures down to earth and making them real live humans with flaws and doubts, it also serves to remind us of how often history repeats itself and how many of the issues our founders struggled with remain unresolved, waiting for us.

Sometimes you read a play just based on the title and are thrilled when it doesn't disappoint you. What a delightful 15 minutes! I thoroughly enjoyed watching events descend into calculated insanity. This play is a lot of fun.

What a sweet, sad play. It's told so simply, yet it conveys what it's been like to live through this pandemic better than anything else I've seen so far. So well done!

I love stories that portray Jesus and those close to him as regular people with hopes and dreams and fears and flaws, and this collection of shorts does just that. It makes you see the Jesus story in a new light and leaves you with a lot to think about. While each piece can stand on its own, it's particularly moving to experience them all together. What a lovely and surprisingly touching collection of shorts!

I love Melanie Coffey's writing, and I love dark comedies, so I thoroughly enjoyed "Detached"! A family taking their patriarch off life support doesn't seem like a subject that will get you giggling, but this play manages to do it. I would love to see it staged one day, when theater can happen again.

Oh my goodness, this play! So smart, so heartbreaking, so spot on! Dianne Nora has a great ear for dialogue and perfectly captures the difficulty of being a woman made infamous and defined by her sexuality. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would love to see it staged!

Perhaps it's morally nebulous to recommend a play your sister wrote, but I think this play is wonderful. It deals with the aftermath of a mass shooting, from the perspective of the family of the shooter (one of whom refuses to exit the titular canoe). An exploration of how a person who feels they're not allowed to grieve handles grief, this play is smart and also - somehow - very funny.

"The Mockingbird's Nest" is a quick, engaging read with a twist that I DID NOT EXPECT. I thoroughly enjoyed the way it unfolded, and how it managed to become pretty creepy while remaining very simple - the best kind of creepiness. With a simple set and two great roles for women over 50, this play would be easy to stage and I'm sure would leave the audience talking about it long after it's over.

This play is delightfully bizarre. I did a lot of giggling while muttering, "What is happening?" which is a combination I really enjoy. But then I always tend to enjoy the things that fall out of Ross Compton's head.

"A Hit and Miss Christmas" is a funny and, at times, very poignant play about a theater company and theater people at a crossroads, figuring out who and what they want to be going forward. The company members wrestling between sticking with classics that have been done to death versus trying something new rings very true. I felt like I knew these people, and I enjoyed spending this time with them. This was a lovely read!