Recommended by Aly Kantor

There is something deliciously intimate about this story of two high school theatre kids (who SOUND authentically like high school theatre kids) selecting Shakespearean audition material that connects. It's a phenomenal vehicle for two young, in sync actors, allowing them to show off their contemporary dramatic chops AND their skill with the classics! There are definitely some young performers who will see themselves in these characters, so I am glad this material exists. Although I don't know what will happen to these two beyond this moment, the play left me with questions... and the warmest, fuzziest feeling of hope!

Wow - this absurd dark comedy is an excellent way to draw attention to the hoops Americans must jump through to receive medical care under late capitalism. When the MAJORITY of characters are actively dying, the stakes couldn't be higher, yet the game show circumstances add a dissonant level of levity. While you can put a monetary value on a life on a gameshow, is it truly ethical in reality? And how do you decide who is deserving? A lot to think about and a lot to laugh about in this short!

The trouble with optimistic transhumanist futures is they never take inequity into account. In a world in which most people rely on their smartphones and progressively advanced forms of AI/NLP are on the rise, the time to have these conversations is now. This play is an efficient entry point and a compelling theatrical journey that will definitely spark discussions regarding the human realities of an automated future under capitalism. It goes above and beyond to ask questions about the role technology might play in human connection - and whether it is enough to love without reciprocation. Really intriguing work!

There is so much simple theatrical magic in this play, leaving the audience to make engaging discoveries! I also think this piece is a brilliant way to open up conversations about kink, and why people choose to play the way they do. Because it is, fundamentally, about grief and change, all audiences will be able to relate, whether they have a relationship with kink communities or not. I loved the use of direct address, adding an additional level of character-audience intimacy. It's rare for READING a play to make me cry, but this one got me. Gorgeous, compelling work!

You don't know how many of your actions—positive or negative, sincere or silly—might have changed someone's life. One man's shenanigans can be another man's Sign! In this funny moment of fate, two individuals with a strange shared history experience a moment of connection, insight, and meaning. I particularly enjoyed the ending, which suggested a world of adventures for a character on the cusp of a new beginning. I think millennials in particular will enjoy this play (and are more likely to discover the twist... I was definitely humming from the moment I read the title)!

This play starts off mundane, with a service worker entering a familiar client's home - one might assume he's an exterminator or a handyman... until he starts drawing pentagrams and erecting black-curtained structures! This is only made more hilarious by the conversation, which is absurdly banal given the circumstances! Slowly but surely, it becomes clear that Belinda has an ulterior motive for calling a for-hire necromancer in the first place. I love the way the little referential details we learn during the chit-chat return to bring this silly, spooky story full circle!

As a devout agnostic whose only winter celebration is a made-up holiday called "Sistermas," this play hit home. As always, Lisa delivers a momentum-filled piece filled with witty but heartfelt dialogue, ensuring a play about grief is as complex and tumultuous as the experience of grief itself. The reversal is subtle but brilliant, as we watch these delightfully flawed characters begin to look ahead, crafting new, progressively absurd holiday traditions. You will love taking this ridiculous journey, and I am sure audiences will love it, too! Smile, pigeons!

This brief but effective short is delightfully deceptive in its sneaky ability to address deep, very human topics in the setting of a children's arcade. If you've ever known the allure of a coin pusher, you probably know how addictive the subtle shifts and clattering of coins can be - it's easy to understand how someone can give everything they have for a few endorphin-pumping moments of satisfaction. That message doesn't hit home until Grandma Dorothy realizes what she's REALLY losing by spending her life glued to those cascading coins. Wise, heartbreaking work with wonderful opportunities for sound design!

Upon seeing "Warning: violence" at the beginning of a Daniel Prillaman play, I clapped my hands. This is consistently a playwright who holds nothing back, and this holiday humor-fest is no exception! It is somehow absurd and familiar—you know these characters, though their syntax is delightfully alien. Just when you think you've reached the twist, there's another one (Ah, the promised violence!) - Ebeneezer Scrooge has NOTHING on Veruth! A not-so-festive referential romp that will leave you cackling!

There is so much delightful specificity in the characters in this play, with all the oddly self-conscious candor of a high school student. The revolving door of increasingly colorful characters made this into an engaging and fast-moving glimpse into a very tense and snowy night! The stakes keep rising as the chaos escalates, but it's all tied up with a ridiculous turn of fate that had me laughing out loud! A fun piece that will showcase the talented high school-aged actors in any ensemble!