Recommended by Maximillian Gill

I am astonished by how much depth of character and thematic significance is packed into this short play. It reads like a very personal statement, and yet there is so much that immigrants and others who struggle with identities that deviate from the norm can relate to. The piece goes broad and epic, encapsulating the history of India, and it gets tight and intimate with this portrait of a specific character. Marvelously well done.

The breadth and variety of comic hilarity Wobensmith is able to extract from a simple premise is just stunning! I am really impressed by how the writer keeps the tension going as the other characters (and the audience) start figuring out the true nature of the clueless actor's audition. I would so enjoy being in a theatre to hear the audience reaction when the tension is finally released, because even in the setting of the Zoom reading that I attended the moment brought the house down.

This play feels so much bigger than its short length. The themes of loss and renewal, the fully rounded characters--each with their own arcs--the mythic layer, all are packed into a piece that takes us on an emotionally rich and rewarding journey in a short span of time. What O'Grady is able to achieve here is simply astonishing.

This short piece is grounded in a brilliant premise that takes the reader by surprise, but it then goes to several other interesting places, all the while layering in important questions about societal expectations on sexual orientation. Both screamingly funny and extremely relevant. Observing the characters take charge of their destinies makes for a poignant, satisfying close. I watched a Zoom reading of this play with actors who really dug into the finely textured characters.

Quick, sharply witty, and several times dark and plumbing human power dynamics in their most base and feral incarnations, this short play packs in a lot in ten minutes and never fails to delight and astonish. I watched a Zoom version and can highly recommend it as a two-hander that actors can really dig into.

The premise of this piece is inventive and endlessly fascinating, but what Anderson does with it is constantly surprising and compelling. Turning these characters into colleagues in a dysfunctional workplace makes them that much more real for the reader and offers all sorts of thematic resonances as we contemplate the "real" world's relationship to these mirror selves. Abstracts are made concrete with relationships that are true and present, and the use of these characters to represent the voices of the marginalized is a stroke of genius. I can see this play being truly dazzling in a staged version.

Fascinating and compelling fantasy-tinged drama. The dialogue is poised and artful without seeming contrived and the characters richly textured inhabitants of a fully realized world. Multiple scenes are rendered as painterly tableaux with language that is poetic and symbolic of cosmic cycles of death and rebirth, strife and peace. Mythic themes and references interweave and give powerful weight to all of the character choices. As a fan of well-wrought fantasy, I found it compelling at every stage. The female characters are powerful in position, deed, and mind. A wonderful work that really stays with a reader.

Naturally, we’re seeing a lot of plays coming out that attempt to capture life during the pandemic. So far, I have not seen any to treat this era with such humanity. The sense of place is very specific and lends the piece extra depth, yet it rings as extremely universal, and I particularly appreciate the inclusion of a variety of ethnicities and cultural contexts. What really make the play resonant and alive are the characters, all fully realized and exceptionally well fleshed out. Malone makes them easy to keep track of them despite the sheer number. An impressive work.

A compelling monologue allowing a voice to someone whose voice has been otherwise denied by history. The play effectively captures Malinche's perspective, but it also carries within it the voices of so many conquered, colonized, and brutalized people the world over. An important piece that needs to be heard.

I was immediately taken in by this wonderful play about the generational and cultural divides within an immigrant family. The opening conversation between father and son achieves its depth not from dramatic conflict but from small gestures, intimate moments, simple connections and misunderstandings. By the time we hear the mother’s voice in the second act, I was all in. The piece is a beautiful, sensitive depiction of these close relationships and how challenging they can be. The characters are fully realized and individual, never reliant on stereotype. Consistently engaging writing.