Recommended by Jack Levine

JOSH GAUTHIER’s play, “Dead Men’s Words”, is an eyes wide open look at the reality of today’s political environment. Perhaps, we may think this doesn’t happen. Maybe it seems like a made up fantasy. Unfortunately, our future will be a totalitarian state if we look the other way. Bravo to Josh for writing such a powerful play. I strongly recommend it be seen by many.

JOHN BUSSER strongly recommended that we should NOT read his play. Clearly, he has a good point IF you don’t want to laugh so much you might get arrested for making too much noise, or you are too shy to be around two dozen characters in one ‘what-did-he-say’ farcical fantasy, or you just want to miss enjoying one heck of a play. “Erstwhile’ is the name; comedy is the whole point. Thanks, John, for a great evening of reading your play!

We would be so much better off if we didn’t jump to conclusions. Sometimes actions are taken for reasons different than what we had thought. There’s no need to ‘jump to conclusions’, if a little bit of reflection, research and refraining will give us a chance to find out what really happened. I think JULIE BRANDON’s monologue, “MY SIDE (Monologue), is well-worth reading and performing.

STEVEN G. MARTIN is truly an outstanding, talented playwright. His ten-minute play, “Ice Cream Stool Pigeon”, is a masterpiece in comedy. I laughed throughout, finding myself amused at the puns, craziness, surprises, and what can only be described as a GEM. This is just one more brilliant play by one of my favorite playwrights. For the sake of pure enjoyment, you would be wise to read this play. For the sake of great entertainment, you would be wise to produce this play. BRAVO, Steven!!!

HEATHER MEYER’s ten-minute play, “Woman With A Bat”, is worthy of praise for its three strong monologues, but more importantly, for its depiction of how hard women need to work for respect, equality, and acceptance. As a father of three daughters, I greatly admire the message - that I got - from this play: Women don’t need pity for how they are viewed, they need to be treated as equals to men. Thank you, Heather, for speaking truth through your wonderful characters.

MAXIMILLIAN GILL’s full-length play, “Keeping Bodies Apart”, was absolutely mesmerizing. I had my own presumptions of what it must be like to be an air traffic controller: Tension, split-second decisions, overworked, incredible responsibility. With the realism from actual events, you are witness to the dialogue between the air traffic controllers and pilots. The long hours, short staffed, constant pressure are there, but we are also made aware of the lack of sleep, home pressures. Fascinating!

“Live on National Television” by ALAINA TENNANT is a period in our Nation’s history in which we were in a war with Vietnam and questioning our own sense of what’s necessary and wanted. I was twenty-five years old and eligible for the draft. I was supportive of the notion we were “fighting to defend our Country’s freedom”. I clearly remember the anticipation and anxiety, similar to what is depicted. This play needs to be performed, because history has a way of repeating itself if unchecked.

KEN JONES and his co-author DARYL L. HARRIS have portrayed the imagined conversation of General George Washington and his closest companion and slave, William ‘Billy’ Lee, before the historic crossing of the Delaware River. Both men talk about what independence will mean. One will become the leader of the new nation. The other will need to face the reality of ‘his people’s’ status in life: Slavery. The freedom from this oppression to be fought much later. I highly recommend “Billy And George”.

GEORGIA XANTHOPOULOU’s play, “The Labyrinth of the Drop”, is a brilliant poetic drama of how we speak to one another, and ourselves, about the meaning of life, and our own meaning we give to what we see, hear, and think. I was totally immersed in the many layers of the thought provoking dialogue. For example, there is more beauty in an event when it is the first and last time it will happen. We should look at the meaning of a single drop, for it is the essence of the beginning of knowledge.

GEORGIA XANTHOPOULOU’s play, “A Talking Parrot (Or A Rule-Based Bureaucratic Apparatus Interrogates A Parrot”, is fascinating, and I must say a very funny look at what bureaucratic society might create to interrogate, analyze and learn about a talking parrot. I found myself laughing out loud at the over-the-top, simply way-out-there questions, the on-going commentary from the committee members, and the deadpan reactions of the parrot. This was Georgia’s first play, and it was LOL funny. Bravo!