Recommended by Aly Kantor

Teenage girls are raw, angry livewires of passion and emotion, and Hanna Kime does them justice in this dynamic two-hander. This is a writer who truly understands the dichotomy of teenage girls and the unique way that they see the world. She tells the story using language, music, and every brilliant trick in the theatrical toolbox but, unlike her playwright-protagonist, never overwrites. She trusts the audience to pick up on the subtleties of this strained relationship. It is carefully plotted, utterly hilarious, and heartbreakingly relatable. You might cringe (a lot), but for all the right reasons!

This is a whimsical, powerful piece with a tight but mutable structure that is just as alive as the vivid characters that inhabit the world of the play. I don't understand how it is so language-rich and funny but still so austere - every single world has such weight and intentionality. It's highly theatrical and had just the right amount of magic. Most of all, it's hopeful! After all, if Benny V. can have a sublime transformation, why can't you? Ultimately, this play is a warm, cozy, and simple story, brilliantly told, full of lots of heart and beauty.

This adaptation begins with an engaging, direct-address framing device that immediately has the audience leaning in! We know from the first monologue that this is going to be a uniquely theatrical play. The stylistic dialogue does a lot to add to the late 19th-century atmosphere. I was a fan of how much of the story is told without words. There is so much room for an eager director to play! Although I wasn't familiar with the original story, I find myself intrigued enough to look it up after reading!

Full disclosure: I am writing this recommendation with tears still in my eyes! It can be hard to write a "historical play" that is truly about people rather than events, but Lisa (as always) has absolutely nailed it. This tightly constructed piece uses absolutely every moment of negative space to tell the emotional story of the life of Martha Jefferson. I commend Lisa for allowing this piece to be complicated. There is a lot of pain in this story, but also a lot of beauty - it's such a well-balanced account. It's also full of incredible, strong roles for women!

Grief is impossible to pin down, but how do you tell that to two scientists who recently lost a child? In this beautiful, heartbreaking play, hope is both the cruelest and kindest force. This piece is truly agonizing in its specificity. Maisel has an incredibly precise hand when it comes to knowing where to start and end a scene. The dialogue is natural, showing characters at their best and their worst, and contains some fantastic, truthful monologues that are so relatable that they hurt. The final scene is an inevitable exhale, and very well earned. A challenging, relatable play.

Sometimes defining a relationship is as simple as asking for what you want - politely! While short plays are all about the austerity of language, this piece uses spare, effective dialogue with near surgical precision to reveal and elevate the complexity in the central relationship. Even so, it feels effortless, with a natural back and forth rhythm and plenty of humor! It's both specific and broadly relatable, and would be a wonderful challenge for two actors with strong chemistry and a great sense of timing.

This short, two-hander play is embued with such a simple theatricality! As the characters in this piece transition seamlessly from the past to the present, we get to experience a carefully curated selection of their shared childhood memories. Each moment, though brief, reveals so much about the adults that both characters have become. What begins as a collage slowly resolves into a crystal clear narrative with a surprising reversal. Though heartbreaking, this piece is full of genuine empathy.

Every character in this play tells you exactly who they are, clearly and unapologetically - and they do so through natural, distinct, and thought-provoking dialogue. This is a tightly plotted and structured play that asks a lot of questions that don't have easy answers. It's full of distinct, layered characters who will make you laugh and make you rage. It's full of tension and high stakes, but they are all earned through tremendously subtle hints that accumulate until the play's heartwrenching, utterly visceral conclusion. The is the sort of play that an empathic reader will physically feel in their body.

Just when you think you've seen the scene before - two girls obsessing over their appearances in a high school bathroom - everything gets turned on its head, and we're treated to a weird and wonderful meditation on the basis of our contemporary beauty standards. Somehow, this play sits firmly in the uncanny valley, where everything is foreign and familiar at once. It's full of action and hilarious visual gags that will stay with the audience after the applause. Quirky, memorable, and thought-provoking!

A vampire with sympathy for his victims! A sassy, opinionated heroine who just happens to be on her deathbed! It seems like a match made in heaven, but the characters in this clever, pathos-filled two-hander are a bit too complex for easy endings. It's full of beautiful language, laugh-out-loud one-liners (and one recurring bit that had me howling), and an enemies-to-friends conclusion that will leave you with a wonderful, satisfying feeling.