Recommended by Aly Kantor

Who knew a play about talking horses could leave me feeling so melancholy? These two are characters indeed, with history and unique outlooks, and it's hard not to fall in love with them instantly. This sweet play proves that a life spent wearing blinders doesn't leave you blind to injustice. We all yearn for imagined futures beyond our control - horses, too! It's so fun to imagine how a design team would handle this (four actors or two?), and yet the simplest staging would evoke big feelings.

It takes a relentlessly smary playwright to write something this relentlessly silly! It might take audiences a minute to pick up on what's going on, but once they do, it's an engaging tennis match as they translate both sides of the conversation. You'd expect this little scene to end in a flaming car wreck, but no - there is so much unspoken love and trust in this relationship that it works itself out, leaving the audience with faith that future conversations will go much better! What a hoot!

Nobody on earth could have written this play other than the one and only John Patrick Bray, and I wouldn't want anyone else to try. It's fiercely theatrical from page one, beginning with a song that draws you right in. I also love the use of fourth-wall-breaking direct address monologues to help seamlessly transition, and how each character has a role to play in shaping the unique character of this theatrical world. It's tragic but hopeful and very funny - and, of course, the good guys win!

This is a very unique and effective metaphor... and a great way to teach your weird neighbors how NOT to act when faced with differences! This starts off charmingly and delightfully campy, and I wasn't sure where it was going until those very pointed stereotypes began to fly - it makes you realize how many rude questions, assumptions, and microaggressions a person can encounter during a single encounter, and how quickly they can add up, even if the person lobbing them is "mostly harmless."

Ha! I LOVE the conceit that a fairy who has reached the limit of her powers might "grant a wish" by delivering someone to Santa and making HIM deal with it! The characters in this play make a truly motley crew. It's got a little bit of everything, too: humor, history, magic, time travel... even an unexpected romance! Best of all, in the end, everyone gets exactly what they want... kinda...?! This is a delightfully silly holiday short for the whole family!

Oh, that was DELIGHTFULLY awkward! I'm not sure how much more awkward it was than your average holiday office party, though! I think my favorite part was the one-person White Elephant gift exchange. Not only was it goofy, with laugh after laugh, but it does say something about the nature of loneliness in the 21st century - how a job that's all about "engagement" can leave you painfully alone when you clock out for the day. LOVE a play that makes me giggle AND makes me think!

I hope a lot of young folks obsessed with sexual dichotomy, especially in queer relationships, stumble across this play and have their minds blown. There is something so universal about both humanity's need to fit everything into a neat taxonomy, and the experience of feeling less-than because you don't. This is a funny, relatable exploration of finding someone with complementary "otherness," with some deeply specific, lovable characters. It's boldly vulnerable, deeply romantic, and lots of fun!

Another bonkers comedy from Paul Braverman! Set in "The Public Domain," anything goes in this interrogation room... including bribery... and tasteful necromancy! The depth of worldbuilding in this holiday short shouldn't be possible, yet we can clearly understand the world beyond the play's single-room setting. It's consistently funny, with two well-drawn characters that would be a BLAST to play... and oh what fun designers would have! Needless to say, this is a holiday classic in the making!

Oh, I LOVE a truly weird play, and this one's a doozy! I'm not sure if this is a holiday play or a horror play... it definitely fits somewhere in between, like any play featuring an...inebriated.... eggnog... gremlin?...should! This play is funny and gross and utterly unexpected. Maybe it's about how people love who they love! Maybe it's about being at a party where you know nobody and wish you STILL knew nobody, because now you know too much! It's DEFINITELY about tinsel. Just read it!!

Every single page of this play has a holiday reference to spot, and readers and audiences alike will have a blast, feeling like they're in on the joke! At the same time, it's a delightful, unexpected play on the noir genre...and sort of an adaptation of A Christmas Carol?! Whatever it is, I had a great time! The metatheatricality here is an absolute hoot! Ultimately, this self-aware little spoof is goofy as heck, and you're going to have a ton of fun reading it!