Recommended by Zach Barr

[this recommendation removed at the request of the play's central character]
[to be clear, it is an excellent and fascinating play]

The overlapping boundaries of consent, peer pressure, self-definition, and sexual freedom become ever more blurred as the night continues in this bold and haunting new play. A familiar-feeling ensemble and setting that the audience will feel ever more pulled into, or trapped within, as the story unfolds. Seven plush roles for brave young performers.

A glowing, reverent play about the struggle to face down issues of race, class, and gender, all at once. White men who can't talk to each other trying to care for young women of color who desperately need to speak and be heard. Rodriguez's silences speak volumes, while the sparks of humor and connection guide the audience through. Glad to see it will premiere soon.

I'm floored by the universe of staging choices that could spring from this gem of a script. A dreamlike text in which questions of our debt to our ancestors, the responsibilities of freedom, and the difficulty of knowing what we truly "want" can be explored through these two complex, loving, human characters. Gentle and vicious in the way only family can be.

A fresh entry into the growing canon of plays about teenage girlhood, Pharel's true-crime-drenched story delicately depicts how the experiences that these girls share can also tear them apart from each other. The play's ending feels both surprising and satisfactorily hopeful, and the friendship the characters maintain for each other serves as a powerful throughline.

Lin's utilization of theatrical doubling to allow the audience to experience the same breakdown of reality as A-poh is devilishly brilliant. A dream-or-nightmare play about how self-reliance can be both a point of pride and a tragic flaw. Enormous opportunities in performance.

Coffey's worldbuilding is understated and yet suspiciously gripping, in this future fable about the breakdown of humanity in the face of viciously zero-sum odds. Anchored by an endearing central couple who both chillingly evolve as the story unfolds, it's a layered and well-paced look at the balancing act between the folly of hope and the violence of pragmatism. Rich opportunities for any company – stage it fast before the West dries up!

A storefront theatre Book of Revelation, beckoning the audience in while deliberately holding them at a distance, a play brimming with righteous fury at itself for being staged in the first place. Endless metatextual layers are peeled back, culminating in a dastardly insistent finale that basically dares the audience not to cry at the overwhelming scent of onion. Peercy has warned this may be his last play, but whether or not it is, it certainly feels like The Last Play. Holy holy holy.

Light, queer, sharp, surprising, and delightfully silly – like an Edwardian parlor drama if the characters were more open about their romantic interests and more self-critical (mostly) about their connections to colonialism. Rare to see such great opportunities for a multigenerational cast of comedic actors, and for stylized production design. Fun!

The theatrical equivalent of a train crash: heart pounding, astonishingly fast, careening off the rails in a way that is impossible to look away from and borderline beautiful in its ugliness. A hilarious and surreal play about that most vital American export: self-destructive self-assuredness.