Recommended by Aly Kantor

While an audio drama always invites participation via theatre of the mind, this piece leaves nearly everything but emotion to the imagination. It's a blank canvas where a listener can project their greatest fears, ensuring they're involved and invested from page one! Creepy!

I love the way this cute sci-fi short plays with our expectations about the genre - rather than a future full of code names, excessive tech, and jargon-laden protocols, these frustrated colonists crave simple, elegant solutions without the "futuristic" frills! Ironically, this piece would make an excellent piece of Zoom theatre!

One of my father's favorite adages is "Would you rather be happy or right?" In this clever sci-fi short, our two lovers chose happiness, leaving the science-minded galactic dramaturg to their facts. This play is an interesting little dive into the value of art, historical perspectives, metaphor, and meaning!

Kerberos may not be paradise, but it's the perfect setting for this sweet, succinct sci-fi speculation on what we really need to be happy, even when life isn't ideal. This piece reminds us that the present may be bleak, but the future is unpredictable in good ways and bad - beauty may be on the horizon... in the meantime, appreciate what you have!

Here we have a fascinating... conflict of interest? Cover up? Mistake? I still don't entirely know, yet I'm still perched on the edge of my seat, searching for callbacks to previous installments in this carefully constructed, endlessly compelling series! I love how the world of the play keeps expanding with each subsequent installment, broadening just a bit while revealing that it may be a very small world indeed. It was fun to finally meet Jason, who came up in Part #2. So many questions remain - for the reader and for poor... Jenny?...Tammy? Whoever she is, her plot thickens!

I decided to jump right into play #2 of this series, which should tell you just how taken I was by the previous installment! Immediately, readers are lulled into the sense that this is a more human chapter in the story - but just when you think there might finally be a trustworthy character in this tale, you're left to wonder... is she sinister or sincere? Good guy or bad guy? What does she know? I have a lot of suspicions and predictions but no clear answers. Whatever the case, I am hooked!

This is a very clever, very suspenseful little piece written masterfully by the wonderful Joe Swenson. Given a single human character to latch onto, we have no choice but to empathize with Jenny, clinging to her as our hero and protagonist, even as the piece takes a turn into the uncanny valley. As the situation becomes progressively more disquieting, one begins to wonder if they have chosen to care deeply about the wrong character! Even at its funniest moments, this dystopian script is eerie, unsettling, and well-paced. I have no idea what's real—and I don't care! It's that compelling!

THIS PLAY!!! This clever summer camp comedy depends on the conceit that all of Shakespeare's young ingenues are essentially interchangeable - but in this piece, that couldn't be further from the truth. The play is full of witty, memorable, and well-drawn young, female characters with laugh-out-loud lines that will have you cackling out loud. Petri reframes our favorite tragedies as feminist campfire horror stories, forcing audiences to interrogate the tales we tell again and again. It's full of honest female friendships (and some very authentic... non-friendships) and familiar references from across the Bard's greatest hits. Smart and so much fun!

You've heard of a "cozy mystery." I think Chris has invented a new genre: the cozy... slasher horror?! I don't normally seek out the horror genre for warm, fuzzy feelings, but there is a warm air of found family in this short, spooky, and surprisingly funny piece. Keen audience members will notice things aren't what they seem pretty quickly, and it's that uncanny feeling that will keep their eyes and ears glued to the stage. It's packed with colorful characters, interesting history, and a central mystery that's lots of fun!

Lisa is one of the few playwrights who consistently has me laughing on page one! In this pseudo-immersive, direct-address short, the least-prepared thieves on earth are bested by their own morals as they attempt to steal a high-profile, notably cursed artifact. Still, the funniest character may be the off-stage docent, who plays the straight man to the two well-drawn clowns on stage! Somehow, by the end of this progressively goofy piece, you'll be rooting for the bad guys! This is a tight, engaging comedy for two energetic performers that would kill at any festival!