Recommended by Aly Kantor

If you're looking for a funny, relatable play about a warm, authentic female friend group, this is it! The relationship between the women sings in this laugh-out-loud short, in which procrastination yields a hilarious conversation (in which a vagina participates). I loved watching the high-strung Heather soften and finally participate, and the twist was right in the "surprising but inevitable" sweet spot that makes a short like this one satisfying!

What a gorgeous fairytale allegory! This stunning play explores the burdens placed on mothers of infants, especially when there is an element of PPD involved. This play allows us to meet two generations of women, allowing us to see the cyclical nature of the issue as it perpetuates itself (and as patterns are broken), as well as showing us what happens if loved ones fail to notice and help. It's such a gentle, thoughtful approach to opening up conversations about a serious, very common issue. Really lovely work!

It's very difficult to find appropriate plays for very young children that are entertaining and still meet their developmental needs. In this short & sweet script, every child involved will have a role to play, keeping performers engaged from curtain up to bows. From funny physicality (I LOVE the "daffodil-daisy-chain") to simple songs, the action never stops, despite the simple, low-effort blocking requirements (which teachers will LOVE). The characters are colorful, and I can even see the young performers contributing to their own costumes or set! Pre-K, K, and 1st grade teachers, check this one out!

This is a gorgeous coming-of-age romp about cryptids and the people (and fellow cryptids) who love them. The puppets are delightful, the nostalgia is engaging, and the rituals are intricate in this tale of growing up, embracing queerness, and processing trauma and the fallibility of memory. I loved the authenticity of the central friend group, and watching them evolve over the course of the play was a treat. It's campy, funny, heartbreaking, scary, and mysterious, all in two tight hours of larger-than-life, strikingly intimate theatre.

If you find yourself seeing our reality through a mirror, darkly, this absurd, surprisingly terrifying play will illuminate our trajectory for you. It's a profoundly imaginative glimpse into a heightened future version of our reality, in which our current struggles with inequity, climate change, AI, and extremism are allowed to escalate. Filled with stunning stage pictures, original music, and deeply human pain, there is something for everyone to relate to in this brilliantly bizarre collage of late, late capitalistic chaos.

Sometimes nothing is scarier than a play in which nothing happens... and nothing happens... and nothing happens. This short is a masterclass in using tension and ambiguity to craft a strong, easily staged horror play! The reader or audience will certainly begin on protagonist Josie's side, skeptical of this "miracle tech" and struggling to suspend disbelief... but as the play goes on and opinions begin to shift, everything heightens to a fantastic, eerie fever pitch! What a smart and unique short piece!

This monologue is uniquely engaging, inviting the audience to participate in this deeply felt tale of one man's unconventional grief journey. There is some striking, gorgeous, and incredibly affecting imagery throughout, brought to life through the use of rich, evocative language—and a few subtle reveals that will take your breath away. The speaker is specific and feels thoroughly three-dimensional, and any actor would be lucky to embody this character!

How does a singular hero, with a unique and irreparable skillset, find the time to grieve in the midst of an ongoing otherworldly battle? In GET IN THE FUCKING ROBOT, the answer is through some fascinating and horrific futuristic tech that forces our protagonist to question both his memories and allegiances. The piece is ripe with opportunities for exciting theatrical choices, though the dialogue does enough of the world-building work that no elaborate tech or set is necessary. A thrilling, referential foray into putting genre stories on stage!

I just streamed the gorgeous world premiere production of this play at Know Theatre, and this play is even more electric on stage than it is on the page. A tight, thought-provoking two-hander, 'Kairos' offers an intimate glimpse into the life of one couple as they live, love, and grieve during the invention of "a cure for death." It's a consistently funny, character driven piece that gets to the heart of so many human fears, presenting a fascinating "what if" that will have audiences talking, dreaming, and debating long after 'end of play.'

I know so many women and girls who have been driven to the brink by the policing of their bodies in the theatre and beyond - and the ways in which a failure to imagine women complexly has led to so much pain. This play captures all of that so brilliantly and succinctly in a quick-moving, emotionally fraught, and genuinely frightening horror play! I love the way it integrates technology as part of the storytelling, adding a crucial dimension that feels bracingly real (and that reversal hit SO HARD)! Read this fantastic, powerful play and HEAR LOLA SPEAK!