Recommended by Lucretia Anne Flammang

Readers at the Depot for New Play Readings loved "The Growing Stone." Peter Snoad explores the generational impact of sexual abuse and death and mourning in this wrenching play about the possibility of redemption, forgiveness, and growth in stony soil. The characters are well-drawn and sympathetic, the dialog pops, and the final monologue is an emotional knock-out. This play earns its ending.

This Eugene O’Neill Theater Center New Play Conference finalist crackles with intimate conflicts both familial and professional. The desperate needs of three characters drive scenes quickly, and the dialog is witty and erudite. The play raises ethical questions about the care of Alzheimer’s patients, in particular, when is it more ethical to lie than to tell the truth?

The first two scenes of the play and an interview between host Greg Lam and John Minigan can be heard later this season on Boston Podcast Players, available on iTunes.

“King Arthur in Contemporary Connecticut” is brilliant farce, on par with Stoppard and Wilde. Lines are fluid and eminently actable. Scene after scene surprises with comic and narrative invention. As with all farce, there is a firm moral foundation. Each character is clearly and economically drawn and defined. The play necessarily takes time to wind the spring of the machine, and the first act contains plenty of good lines and jokes to make the winding tolerable and fun. When the spring unwinds, we get we get a great, endlessly comic denouement. A gift. Highly recommended.

"Common Ground" is a beautifully realized story about the toll of cross-generational addiction on families and the challenge to move from past grievances to forgiveness. As read at the Depot for New Play Readings, Cynthia Arsenault's full-length drama provides actors enticing and complex roles with powerful scenes and devastating monologues. This is a play that deserves a wide audience; its examination of the scourge of opioid addiction is harrowing, wise, and compassionate.