Recommended by Aly Kantor

We all know fairytales are powerful. They're universal parables intended to keep kids safe. In this play, we get to see the harmful side of today's "princess culture" and the more harmful myths that sneak into our modern retellings. Luckily, Dana Hall has challenged the traditional "happy ending" and has given us a simple love story that follows its own rules! In the play, we follow protagonist Ava from childhood through to the present and get to see her grow and change as she learns to love herself. The piece is consistently funny, with great roles for women and girls!

This is a chilling and atmospheric piece clearly written by a playwright with complete trust in the audience. I was fully engaged from start to finish as I wove the strands together and determined the truth hidden between the lines. Every character is motivated - and if those motivations aren't clear at the beginning, they come into stark relief by the end. I found myself hungry for more stories from this village - and it only took me a few short pages to conjure the whole world of the play in my mind!

I never imagined that a play about The Singularity could be so - dare I say - sweet?! In these isolated times, I think we all wish we had someone whose job was to be there for us. If only therapists could actually write prescriptions to fix loneliness! This is a lovely little slice of life piece that assures the reader and the audience that sometimes simply being there for someone is purpose enough. You don't need to be productive to be a good human. You just need to connect!

Lab Rats is a tight two-hander about a pair of completely flawed but thoroughly lovable characters brought together by their own desperation. Once we understand just how isolated our lab rats feel, the stakes rise in realistic and satisfying ways. This play contains quite a few short, often wordless scenes that do so much work when it comes to conveying just who these two humans really are - which, fascinatingly enough, is one of the central questions of the piece. Can you ever really know someone - and is it possible to form a relationship if the answer is "no?"

We are all a million different people, and nobody knows that better than a talented playwright - and who contains more multitudes than the brilliant Adam Szymkowicz? This play illuminates the fact that no two people experience another individual in quite the same way. I found myself thoroughly engaged, puzzling through which lines could conceivably be delivered by the same "character." It's a poetic piece full of infinite possibilities for casting and staging - simultaneously melancholy, human, and hopeful. I can imagine that any high school student would be able to relate to these characters and build empathy through performance.

This is a lovely ten-minute historical piece about an engagement gone wrong. It centers a smart, motivated female character that any young actress would be thrilled to portray. She's both focused and feisty and I loved her from page one! The dialogue does a lot to set the context and paint the 1940's small-town setting for the reader. I enjoyed eavesdropping on this small - yet equally monumental - moment in these characters' lives!

I can't believe what is accomplished in just seven succinct pages! We're introduced to four distinct characters and a clever, fully-solvable murder mystery! I am impressed with the playwright's ability to make character motivations so clear in such a small time frame! A very fun read!

I loved knowing the story by heart and still finding surprises on every page! From the very first line, I was taken by the language - it is so playful and vital! The anachronisms are all carefully considered and help make the story accessible. The gorgeous stage directions are rich and can be interpreted in so many unique and visually stunning ways. The reader is constantly steeped in visual metaphor, and the doubling of Iphigenia and Cassandra is particularly brilliant. This is certainly a compelling new women-centered Oresteia for the 21st century!

We all talk to the voices in our heads. In Clara Thomas Bailey, Svich manifests them into three distinct characters, providing the complete picture of an individual that could be any of us. It is a melancholy portrait of what it is to always be waiting for the next bit of not-yet-catastrophic bad news... yet somehow made me feel less alone. The underlying anxiety in this afternoon with Clara (and Thomas and Bailey) is relatable and urgent. This is a deep piece that will be a satisfying challenge for a creative and empathetic director. I hope to see it staged!