Recommended by Maximillian Gill

Deliciously dark and unnervingly witty, DeVita’s comic romp takes place in a milieu familiar to anyone who’s spent some time in certain social circles of the east coast, yet what the author does with this setting and with these characters is constantly surprising. You will not likely guess where it’s going, but you will be happy to come along for the ride. The dialogue is consistently sharp and hilarious, contemporary but with the breezy comic touch of old school comedy. It's been a while since I laughed out loud this much just reading a play!

A highly personal and achingly sensitive piece. Gonzalez’s work defies theatrical conventions in all the best ways, yet at its heart it is the opening of the human soul for others to experience. And what else is theatre, and what else should it be at its greatest? Extremely specific, but so much to relate to. The insecurities, the urge to be better, the missed connections with those with whom we should be closest. And let me not fail to mention Gonzalez’s utter fearlessness. Put simply, this piece is a gift to all of us.

Gloriously steeped in the milieu of southern Gothic and crime. The details, references, and language are so specific and evocative that you can just smell the Spanish moss (not that I would know what it smells like). McBurnette-Andronicos has created an incredible character in Violet, someone so off-kilter yet charming you could easily follow her down any dark path. The language of the dialogue is beautiful and rhythmic, some of the soliloquies read like prose poems. More great lines than I can mention, but here’s a favorite: “A civilization’s only as fast as its slowest mailman.” Marvelous!

Siering’s play speaks the truth, something difficult for the political class to embrace. I love compact, ten-minute pieces whose themes encompass more than their length, and this one delivers by excoriating politics on multiple levels. And just when I thought I knew exactly where it was going, it took a turn and packed a satirical punch of an ending.

A wonderful and timely love story. The scenes of these two people coming together and falling for each other are sensitively rendered, beautiful and real, tender and funny. The dialogue is natural yet poetic, resonating with evocations of honey and continents splitting (an apt metaphor). Events tear these people apart in a heartbreaking way, but just when you think you know where it's going, other complications emerge. I couldn't stop reading this one.

An impressive work of speculative fiction by Carnes. As a fan of the genre, I particularly love how the play's environment is hermetically sealed, yet glimpses of the outside creep in for some deliberately paced, full-scale world-building that gradually introduces us to this bleak future. I can't fail to mention the language. The dialogue mixes current and older slang with poetic evocations for a rhythmic language that is unique and beautiful to contemplate and that absolutely demands to be read out loud. Shades of "Handmaid's Tale" yet startlingly original in technique and vision.

A sensitively rendered look at two people struggling with the pressures of growing up. The characters are extremely specific, yet the play has a universality that speaks to anyone who's ever had challenges with fitting in among a certain cultural milieu. I am especially impressed by how the play has only two onstage characters, but we have a clear sense of the world they inhabit and all of the other personalities they have to contend with. Engaging and realistically written.

A lovely play that gains its force from simple moments, everyday gestures, and natural dialogue. Voluntary assisted dying is a weighty subject, but those expecting something lugubrious may be surprised. The play and the characters are full of life and love, and the passing of one of the characters is treated with the utmost compassion and a recognition of death as a phase of life. I also can’t fail to mention how witty much of the dialogue is and how specific and unique the voices of the characters are. An impressive work overall.

Had me at aliens! But seriously, I read so many plays that I find it so refreshing to come across a piece that reminds us what theatre is all about at its most fundamental: the human imagination and the worlds we contain. The characters and the characters they become are all delightful and convincingly rendered, and the play overall is just a loving tribute to an age of boundless creativity. If only we could all conjure aliens out of yogurt.

What begins as a comic romp about one person trying to get another person into bed turns, methodically and surprisingly, into a philosophical piece about what we expect from love, sex, and from another person when the first two concepts are in play. It reminds me of "Ma nuit chez Maud" or some of Eric Rohmer's other "moral tales." Engaging and witty, a delight to read.