Recommended by Aly Kantor

One day, a passionate sound designer will stumble across this play, and that sound designer will be the luckiest artist on earth, for they will have come across a lovely, compelling, magical piece that demands a stunning, haunting, dynamic sonic atmosphere. That's not even to mention the lucky actors who will get to deliver a quiet, tender performance full of yearning, spoken and unspoken. I love the easy magic and the universality of this tiny slice of life and/or death!

This stunning, contemporary adaptation of Yerma left me weeping. It so clearly and evocatively illustrates the inherent double standards surrounding who can and cannot experience the privilege of parenthood in the United States. It accomplishes this through striking, rhythmic language and clear, specific characters whom we love in their moments of beauty as well as their moments of monstrosity. It's gorgeously theatrical and profoundly moving. Ultimately, it's all about relationships. Lovely.

I believe storytelling is inherently theatrical. This play is a beautiful example of how a story rich with language, sensory detail, specific dialogue, and period details can draw you in and immerse you! This piece presents an excellent challenge for an actor with stamina and range, offering opportunities to showcase every tool in their toolbox. I'm impressed by how faithful the adaptation felt, especially considering the length of the source material! Ahab felt particularly vital. Impressive!

I love (or perhaps love to hate) Hedda Gabler, and I've had numerous conversations about whether someone could or even SHOULD adapt this play for modern audiences. Those conversations stop here. This play brings contemporary clarity and meaningful complexity to an already taut, depraved story, lending it fresh relevance through specificity. Everything from the calculated color scheme to the knife-sharp use of music is symbolically resonant, helping us dissect the events before us. Haunting!

This intimate play reflects the impressionism in the title: magically, it dramatizes the feeling of staying up all night, and the thoughts and memories that visit while your brain is simultaneously wired and sleepy. I love the intimacy of the overheard conversations and how seamlessly the play's magic overlaps with the mundane. Endlessly versatile, there are beautiful roles for any type of performer. I think this text would absolutely sing, even with simple staging. So Human and so fearless!

Syran has a gift for creating worlds that are rich in history, sensory details, and deep, authentic passion, driving her stories forward and keeping audiences rooting for the protagonist. This excavation of history and the value of doing meaningful work (even if the world doesn't want you to) is right on brand. Through intimate, active dialogue, we get to see the ways in which both people and systems are fallible . It's loaded with rich, specific characters and some fantastic roles for women!

Take a cool speculative premise, add a dash of mythology, dump in a TON of comedy, and a pinch of metatheatricality, and you have this funky sci-fi epic that spans time and space! I love the worldbuilding that sends us from the past, to the future, and back again, adding context and subtext as we go. The speculative angle is clear, with visions of today's world magnified and expanded to absurd limits. There are tons of great one-liners in there that will keep you thinking while you're laughing!

One of the greatest challenges drama teachers face is finding material that rewards students for making choices, which can feel vulnerable and awkward without great material. Those drama teachers should look at this play, which is full of fantastic gags that rely on big acting choices! It has non-stop pacing and a big central mystery that keeps the story on track and the audience leaning forward. And the button at the very end was just perfect! A dynamic and satisfying short perfect for schools!

Comedic and horrific in turns, this succinct, tonally textured speculative piece is spare, affecting, and deeply haunting. The world of the play is both instantly recognizable and terribly alien, launching audiences into an uncanny future where anything is possible but, alas, everything is futile. Desperation drives the depraved, deeply human action, and by the end, I was feeling such an odd, jumbled cocktail of emotions. I think the subtlety will stay with me above all else. A wild ride!

Both devastating and magical, this short play is filled with incredible whimsy and the deepest despair. Most of all, I appreciate how kind and gentle it is, even at its darkest. It definitely had me wondering what I'd do in Sam's place, if I'd been entrusted with a terrible secret that only I could bring to light, which made the stakes feel high and kept the story emotionally engaging—all signs of a truly compelling protagonist. Easily staged, but with no lack of theatricality. Really lovely!