Recommended by Joanna Castle-Miller

I read this play on behalf of Hire Survivors Hollywood. In only ten minutes, it packs an incredible punch. Thanks to the playwright's deft writing, you'll leave with a better understanding of what it feels like to be gaslighted; and at the same time, see how easy it could be to become complicit in another person's abuse. Goldman-Sherman does all of that while centering and honoring the survivor's experience. A fabulous work.

I was introduced to this lovely play through Jewish Plays Project and then again through Hire Survivors Hollywood. It's a beautiful work that uses gentle, poetic language to show how a child processes trauma and the way myths and legends can help us understand ourselves better. Lang's deft focus on the sisterly/caregiver relationship shows the way close community can help or harm in the process of healing. The childlike POV is so poignant and makes an otherwise difficult story accessible. I felt safe with this play and grateful to the playwright.

One of the most powerful theatrical takes on empathy and allyship I've read. Monks viscerally shows the pain of the world ignoring Black women's trauma, even while generously offering a new path and giving voice to the stories that should have been told long ago. The Girl(s) Next Door is a really powerful statement about what is required of white women if we truly want to be intersectional and stand in solidarity with other survivors. It will stay with me for a long, long time, and I hope to see it produced.

La Sirena is a theatrical, hopeful play that shows the range in which abusers may respond when held accountable for their behavior. The redemptive aspects in the story feel especially rare in theatre at a time when it's desperately needed. Trinidad shows what it looks like to fail and succeed at being an ally and gives us an example of repentance that feels truthful and could serve as a model for people called out for doing harm in our industry (and in any industry).

I had the pleasure of reading this play for Hire Survivors Hollywood's featured plays list. It's a powerful, intimate, beautiful play that packs a lot of depth in its short pages. While McCreary centers queer Black characters with specificity and care, he also demystifies the healing process for survivors in a way that feels universal and deeply relatable to anyone who knows trauma.

This is such a bold, original, and insightful musical that it's hard to believe how real it also feels. I found something personal to love in each of the complex layers of this play – brought forward with a cathartic mix of humor and rage. In an era when creative projects are tediously redeveloped, rebranded, and rebooted, B/S/T presents something so wholly original that it feels rebellious.

I had the pleasure of seeing a reading of this piece while in development. It centers a vulnerable, complex, deeply sympathetic character in Belchan who helps us understand better how the music industry (and all entertainment) breaks its promises to young women, and especially Black girls. And at the same time, as fits the playwright's brand, it tells this painful story with joy and hope. The final lines of this play have stuck with me and echoed in my mind many times over.

In Every Generation is a haunting, poignant play about collective memory and the way in which we carry our pasts with us. By taking you on a journey through time and language, she explores what it means to be a family, a people, and an individual within a broader community. Ali has built a masterpiece around one dinner, and I can't recommend it enough.

A funny, poignant, and at times enraging revisiting of Monica Lewinsky and the scandal that (dare we say unfairly) bears her name. Sarah weaves original source material, hilarious commentary, and a superhero narrative into a lively, engaging discussion of--among other things--workplace harassment, gender discrimination, and collective memory. It may frame Monica's story through the lens of a superhero, but it's also very much a trial, and one in which no one leaves unscathed.

Youth, power, violence, gender, sexuality: Danielle Mohlman weaves these themes into a poetic fugue. Dust intertwines voice and movement alongside the narrative of a school shooting, making it as beautiful as it is timely. A powerful, boldly theatrical, haunting play that arrives at the perfect time.