Recommended by Ava Love Hanna

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    Mathew Green's This Office is Permanently Closed is a fun, brief romp through 1980s corporate America, complete with a hilariously big brick cell phone. The dialogue is snappy, and as the recently laid-off employees wallow in their miseries, Green adds an entertaining pivot that reveals that things could always be worse.

    Mathew Green's This Office is Permanently Closed is a fun, brief romp through 1980s corporate America, complete with a hilariously big brick cell phone. The dialogue is snappy, and as the recently laid-off employees wallow in their miseries, Green adds an entertaining pivot that reveals that things could always be worse.

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    In Oversight, L.B. Deyo delivers a clock-ticking (er... egg-timer-ticking) thriller that perfectly captures our current cultural anxiety at the crossroads of unregulated tech domination and political incompetence. Balancing dark humor with rising tension, Deyo handles a terrifyingly relevant subject with incredible wit. A timely play that will hook audiences.

    In Oversight, L.B. Deyo delivers a clock-ticking (er... egg-timer-ticking) thriller that perfectly captures our current cultural anxiety at the crossroads of unregulated tech domination and political incompetence. Balancing dark humor with rising tension, Deyo handles a terrifyingly relevant subject with incredible wit. A timely play that will hook audiences.

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    FOOLS is a fun, fast-paced comedy about mid-life and identity. The best part? It explores deep domestic anxieties via id-driven, truth-telling puppets. Masterson uses these irreverent, farting truth-tellers to poke at serious questions about marriage, parenting, and career burnout, and manages to end the whole thing with a bang.

    FOOLS is a fun, fast-paced comedy about mid-life and identity. The best part? It explores deep domestic anxieties via id-driven, truth-telling puppets. Masterson uses these irreverent, farting truth-tellers to poke at serious questions about marriage, parenting, and career burnout, and manages to end the whole thing with a bang.

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    The Egg is a wildly inventive, structurally daring comedy that earns every absurdist flourish. Masterson's writing is precise where it counts and delightfully unhinged everywhere else. This play is a defense of the sacred weirdness and messiness of being human and hides a genuinely tender question inside the joke: what do we protect when the world wants to process everything into data? Incredibly smart writing perfectly blended with heart and absurdity. I can't wait to see this one on stage.

    The Egg is a wildly inventive, structurally daring comedy that earns every absurdist flourish. Masterson's writing is precise where it counts and delightfully unhinged everywhere else. This play is a defense of the sacred weirdness and messiness of being human and hides a genuinely tender question inside the joke: what do we protect when the world wants to process everything into data? Incredibly smart writing perfectly blended with heart and absurdity. I can't wait to see this one on stage.

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    Spellbound is a beautifully crafted romantic comedy that deftly navigates the murky waters of love and friendship, free will, and consent. The combination of magic with characters that are messy and deeply human is a fantastic contrast. While the dialogue is sharp and often hilarious, the play is anchored by a sobering exploration of agency and connection. The play, much like the song that anchors it, is skillfully composed and built with a resonant, theatrical rhythm. An absolute delight.

    Spellbound is a beautifully crafted romantic comedy that deftly navigates the murky waters of love and friendship, free will, and consent. The combination of magic with characters that are messy and deeply human is a fantastic contrast. While the dialogue is sharp and often hilarious, the play is anchored by a sobering exploration of agency and connection. The play, much like the song that anchors it, is skillfully composed and built with a resonant, theatrical rhythm. An absolute delight.

  • Ava Love Hanna: WHEN SHALL WE THREE MEET AGAIN? by Donna Latham
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    A fantastically hilarious bite-sized comedy. Latham takes the iconic opening of Macbeth and pivots to the modern horror of trying to sync schedules with busy friends. Watching powerful witches succumb only to their packed calendars is a fantastic twist. A relatable, cackle-worthy short!

    A fantastically hilarious bite-sized comedy. Latham takes the iconic opening of Macbeth and pivots to the modern horror of trying to sync schedules with busy friends. Watching powerful witches succumb only to their packed calendars is a fantastic twist. A relatable, cackle-worthy short!

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  • Ava Love Hanna: Wayfaring Strangers by Dan West
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    A fantastic modern retelling (extension?) of the Orpheus myth. West does a fantastic job of contrasting the passion of a new marriage that ends in tragedy with the comfortable sameness of a stable long term marriage. Gut punching lines like "Maybe being Orpheus means losing Eurydice... every time" are not only beautifully written, but wind in themes of fate and predestination. A lovely, poignant piece about how choosing the 'well worn shirt' of a stable family is its own heroic journey.

    A fantastic modern retelling (extension?) of the Orpheus myth. West does a fantastic job of contrasting the passion of a new marriage that ends in tragedy with the comfortable sameness of a stable long term marriage. Gut punching lines like "Maybe being Orpheus means losing Eurydice... every time" are not only beautifully written, but wind in themes of fate and predestination. A lovely, poignant piece about how choosing the 'well worn shirt' of a stable family is its own heroic journey.

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  • Ava Love Hanna: Two Have Clipboards (short) by David Hilder
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    An absurdist gem. I love how disorienting this short is -- who's questioning who? Why? Whom can we trust? In ten short minutes, Hilder takes us on a journey from a bizarre clinical intake to random office chatter to vivid childhood memories and back again. With rapid-fire dialogue and quick scene changes the audience is kept as off-kilter as poor Smith. A perfectly unsettling and entertaining short play.

    An absurdist gem. I love how disorienting this short is -- who's questioning who? Why? Whom can we trust? In ten short minutes, Hilder takes us on a journey from a bizarre clinical intake to random office chatter to vivid childhood memories and back again. With rapid-fire dialogue and quick scene changes the audience is kept as off-kilter as poor Smith. A perfectly unsettling and entertaining short play.

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  • Ava Love Hanna: THE LESSER LEYENDECKER, a 90-100 minute full-length drama, LGBTQ+ themes by Arianna Rose
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    In The Lesser Leyendecker, Arianna Rose gives us a beautiful and devastating exploration of identity as performance. While creating the image of 'the perfect man,' Frank and Joe's lives were a precarious high-wire act where they were forced to hide their true selves. There's so much to love here, but the literal tightrope walker is a theatrical gut-punch of a metaphor for a family trying not to fall. Heartbreaking and truly unique.

    In The Lesser Leyendecker, Arianna Rose gives us a beautiful and devastating exploration of identity as performance. While creating the image of 'the perfect man,' Frank and Joe's lives were a precarious high-wire act where they were forced to hide their true selves. There's so much to love here, but the literal tightrope walker is a theatrical gut-punch of a metaphor for a family trying not to fall. Heartbreaking and truly unique.

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  • Ava Love Hanna: A Wish For My Forever by William J. Meyer
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    A Wish For My Forever is a fun and moving personification of the Moon on the day of the Apollo 11 landing. Meyer does such a great job of framing the moon landing as not just a "small step," but as something bigger -- a reconnection between lost loves. A thoughtful, poetic short about time and connection that would be a great fit for any actor.

    A Wish For My Forever is a fun and moving personification of the Moon on the day of the Apollo 11 landing. Meyer does such a great job of framing the moon landing as not just a "small step," but as something bigger -- a reconnection between lost loves. A thoughtful, poetic short about time and connection that would be a great fit for any actor.

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