Recommended by Enid Cokinos

FIREFLIES is a perfect mixture of spookiness and humor as these two lonely characters from beyond the veil connect by the ghost light in an old theatre. A wonderful play for any festival, but a slam-dunk for a Halloween or ghost-themed event.

Poor Max. Probably should have at least broached the subject of marriage before popping the question on the jumbotron at a major league baseball game, huh? Enter Sis Brenda and Best Bud Stuart to help him move on from the humiliation. And even if there isn’t hope for romance, there’s always Pickle Ball. A fun short play by Paul Donnelly.

Using a horse race as an analogy for a speed-dating event is brilliant. Hats off to Nora Louise Syran for this highly amusing, and incredibly accurate, monologue!

Ah, those important life lessons…how to do laundry being right there at the top of the list. Debra Cole packs a lot of humor into these few pages!

Bridgette Dutta Portman has penned a wonderful play. The characters interactions and comical negotiation immediately pulled me in. Stephanie: set on saving the world as Stella Wind. Mom: refusing to give into her teenage daughter’s superhero fantasies (but then again, who’s to say she’s not the leader of the Cosmonaut Quartet, dedicated to defending Earth from evil aliens bent on enslaving the human race?). A humorous story capped off with a touching mother-daughter moment. Loved it!

Emily has the selection of her future soulmate all figured out. With the help of a special dating app, she can quickly weed out incompatibility, thus saving precious time and energy otherwise wasted on a going-nowhere-relationship. But Emily is confronted with a difficult choice when she meets The One: believe the app or simply enjoy what could be the best years of her life? I love when a play can deliver valuable life-lessons with humor, and FUTURE WAR does just that. Thanks to Max Gill for this delightful piece of theatre.

What happens when a novelist puts her mastery of the macabre to work in order to spend time with Luis, the oh-so-hot fireman living in the apartment downstairs? We get ALL HALLOWS EVE! Tricia’s motives appear innocent on the surface, until Evelyn, a plucky lady of a certain age, *appears*, adding a nice bit of humor as she sets the record straight. Twists and turns abound in this short play by Charles Scott Jones. This one is perfect for Halloween/ghost themed festivals.

Oh, my goodness, still laughing. THE WRAP UP is a brilliant comedic mix of the ancient Egyptian world and modern-day life. Makalanii and Ebo are two happy-go-lucky slaves who LOVE their work, and High Priest Nefurtum gives them a chance to continue serving their beloved King Tut once the pyramid is done. But there’s a bit of a catch (no spoilers here). These characters practically jump off the page thanks to John Busser’s quick wit and well-crafted dialogue. I loved this play…and what a perfect script for a short movie!

F.J. Hartland immediately pulls the audience into this play with a humorous start to a couple’s relationship, and we continue riding an emotional roller-coaster of loving, hopeful moments, as well as those darker times many of us know all too well. ACROSS A CROWDED ROOM beautifully weaves together these characters’ perspectives on their experiences as a couple, and it all begins with a decision to cross a crowded room. A wonderful one-act play with universally appealing themes and a genius twist.

Well, the twist in this play hit me right in the heart. Our dear sweet dog has been gone many years, but there are still days when I feel that raw sting of loss. Fur Baby lovers everywhere will be scrambling for a tissue after seeing (or reading) TREASURE.