Recommended by Michele Clarke

Delightfully dark and very funny. Oh, and gruesome. :)

An innocuous, even funny opening line turns into an incredibly powerful, honest and raw monologue.

A quick, sharp hit of a monologue. Lots of room for the right actress to layer in depth.

A chilling look at the urgency and riddle of postpartum depression. This is a tour de force for an actress willing to totally commit.

A dark metaphor dressed as a fable, deceptively set in a vaguely Shakespearean perpetuity. We never learn.

A terrific origin story with well-written lyrics and song constructions. Really want to hear this music.

This quick comic monologue is biting and uninhibited in its mission to tell the truth. Preach, Meghan Duffy!

Meghan Duffy nails 35 years of marriage so hard I had to stop in the middle of this one-minute play because I was laughing so hard. Brava.

MISE EN PLACE hits the spot when you need a smart, fun piece to let your audience know they should sit up a little straighter and pay attention to what's to come in the rest of your evening of shorts. This is an incredibly well-crafted, sly bit of theater. The metaphors abound. Anything else I say would be a spoiler. And that [reaches for platitude] would be a sin.

Jean Ciampi's work serves up the best Nora Ephron vibes - real characters, effortless dialogue, slice-of-life poignancy, and that twist you weren't expecting. And the puns in her log-line-style synopses are always perfect -- HEART OF THE MATTER is ready to drop into your program of shorts. :)