Recommended by Aly Kantor

This wild "meet the parents" comedy begins with a familiar premise - a young man brings a new girlfriend home to meet the family for the first time. The magic in this piece comes from the characters, who each harbor a fun, colorful secret. As the protagonist (the aforementioned new girlfriend) becomes acquainted with each family member, she comes to realize that, despite her boyfriend's claims, there is NO need to fake perfection! It leads to a lovely, silly, magical moment of catharsis at the end! Each little character reveal will be a blast for audiences to experience! Fun!

This play starts off as an incredibly relatable meditation on the process of story midwifery. Meanwhile, the audience watches an unlikely friendship begin between a fledgling author and (unbeknownst to said author...) the secretary of a hot-shot writer. Somehow, the silly, epistolary play builds to an incredibly high-stakes peak as the protagonist shows her true colors! Just when you think things are calming down, the playwright leaves us with a ponderous button that suggests otherwise! Manic, marvelous fun!

This goofy, carefully structured script is a gift for physical comedians, full of so many opportunities for hambones to play the melodrama! I loved the slow, dawning realization that the puckish Clovis was part of the foreshadowed "unrest cure!" This may be a little play, but it's full of larger-than-life characters, shocking dialogue, and lots of little laughs! Even the maid has a through-line! Lots of fun!

Whether you're haunted by the future of AI, the threat of alien life, or that one Talking Tina episode of The Twilight Zone, something in this horrific sci-fi short will chill you to the bone! This play is cleverly paced, with critical information emerging just when the audience needs it—but it still leaving plenty of room for unexpected reversals that will have audiences gasping! Though scary, it still manages to maintain an absurd sense of wit and humor (I loved President Miley Cyrus). Stick around until the last scene and enjoy a fantastic, creepy trip to the uncanny valley!

As writers, we see it all the time: actors refusing a role because they don't agree with a character's politics or audiences demonizing an author for writing characters with radical views. This play serves as a fantastic metaphor for the death of media literacy in today's society—and makes a subtle statement about cancel culture and the ways we ignore learning and growth in favor of creating monsters. Truthfully, I can't even blame Deirdre, a retail worker, for her actions! She's not being paid enough! This play is scary, and that has nothing (or everything?) to do with Zombies!

I was thrilled to see a sequel to Backyard Stonehenge—and what a heartfelt sequel it is! Mrs. Ferria may merely be an off-stage character in the original play, but here she's a fully drawn character with fears and flaws. I also loved getting to know Jude, whose earnest compassion and unerring effort are as endearing as they are painfully relatable. As in the other piece, this play has brilliant opportunities to play with physicality as characters lug rocks around the stage, making their objectives tangible. What a lovely way to bring this little theatrical world "full [stone] circle!"

It takes a great deal of talent to do effective things with austere language, and this short is a masterclass in choosing your words carefully for maximum emotional impact! This tight two-hander leaves all of the choices in the hands of the actors, making it perfect for a duo of veterans or a scene study class. The scene seems casual, and the stakes seem low... until, suddenly, you're hit with the implications like a truck. It's heartbreaking and beautiful - perhaps not in spite of, but BECAUSE of the brevity and the implication that the scene has played out before.

If you need a bit of laugh-out-loud perspective to get you through a bout of ennui, this funny, inspiring, and surprisingly educational short play is for you! I love the way the plot comes full circle, and the "end of the world" ends up being the change that the disenchanted protagonist was looking for! The characters are distinct and colorful, leaving you wondering who the "crazy" one really is... or if any of them are crazy after all! It's very clever and well-crafted, and would be a treat for actors and audiences alike!

I love robots, and I love robots on stage even more! In this compelling sci-fi short, the reader is forced to grapple with the very concept of "love" - what it means, who is capable of it, and who is worthy of it. Is it a force for good or antagonism, and where does AI fit in? We encounter these ideas through the story of two wholly unique characters with plenty of quirks between them. Though all the clues were there, the phenomenal twist at the end still caught me off guard! A sad, sweet, well-constructed piece of theatre!

What's the next evolution of "online dating?" This heightened-language play explores one possibility through a look into one such date. So much of the humor in this script comes from what ISN'T said, providing opportunities for actors to tell the story that only exists between the lines. Furthermore, the stilted technical language brings this "romantic" scene right into the uncanny valley, where a whirlwind romance involves a lot of legal mumbo jumbo and contracts. It also brings up interesting ideas regarding consent, authenticity, and compatibility. Ultimately, this is a thought-provoking piece depicting a future that's not so unlike our present!