Recommended by Maximillian Gill

I know I'm not the only one who appreciates a twisted holiday tale, but this one is especially delicious, dark, and side-achingly funny. A necessary addition to any holiday-themed festival. Also extra credit for a reference to an alicorn.

Complete charming, witty tale of two siblings bonding in a gentle, effortless manner as well as a sly satire of the over-sized paranoia parents inflict on their children. Clever and fun.

This short piece has a visceral effect. Painful and achingly beautiful. It's as if the characters aren't speaking dialogue, instead they're repeating words that are bleeding out of them. A gift of a play for any actors ready to completely give themselves to it.

Intense and beautiful, a gently rendered tale about the pain we hold in and the pain we put on others. Every word of the dialogue rings true for these real, relatable, and startlingly real characters. Both subtle and bold in technique, a wonderful short play.

A wonderful and poignant play. The very specific experience of a same-sex couple adopting a child is treated with grace and deep understanding and at the same time probes the universal anxiety of feeling the sheer weight of devoting yourself to caring for a child. The close is simple and beautiful.

Poignant and powerful, a much-needed parable about understanding and overcoming differences. Semilof writes with a light touch that makes the material approachable, but the writer does not hold back from the socioeconomic implications of the story.

Enigmatic and fascinating all the way through. This short piece's scenario and approach are very simple, yet it raises questions about how well we know those we claim to know and at the same whether any of us are strangers to each other at all. A fine minimalist piece.

A deep dive into shuddering paranoia and isolation, this play makes imaginative use of a single actor playing three "voices" to dissect the human consciousness subjected to the kinds of pressures and fears so many of us have lived through in the past year. It is both universal and specific, a document of a frightening time that could be relevant at any time.

Intense and absorbing, taking place in a dystopian future that blends in elements of the fantastical with the very real and grounded. I am constantly impressed by the deft balance between the horrific and bleakly funny in this play. The world-building is expansive, but the focus is tightly set on a small set of characters whose actions have ramifications beyond their control. Gripping work.

Briskly written and thoroughly engaging, this play asks some of the big questions about humanity, consciousness, and creativity and fails to answer them in very satisfying ways, because of course there are no true answers and the play acknowledges that. At the same time, it is a thoroughly absorbing story of four characters who feel real and instantly relatable. Libby pulls off quite a feat and makes both ideas and characters completely captivating. It is in the tradition of the best science fiction, where humanity is always at the core of a story about technology.