Recommended by Maximillian Gill

Durbin captures America in microcosm in this funny and ultimately very moving piece. Elections and politics obviously have the capacity to create rifts. What I especially love about this piece is the way it shows people overcoming their differences and coming together in genuine ways. Every moment feels natural and organic, and we never fail to root for these characters to find their moments of connection. We have never been more in need of this optimistic play.

This tightly constructed piece places us in the middle of a politically fraught place and time. A time when people thought they had enough information to make ethical choices, but with our historical distance we know exactly where their choices will lead. The tension between these two perspectives drives the play and keeps us on the edge the entire time. What is on the surface a negotiation between partners has much broader consequences. Cathro leaves us with no easy answers. Powerful work.

I saw a reading of this fun, consistently witty play. Segall has a sense of humor that plays with the tropes of a standard farce but also manages to catch you off guard at every turn. LOL moments are too numerous to list. And just when you feel contented to just ride through this one as a comic romp, Segall brings in some significant social satire and commentary. In the hands of performers with impeccable timing, it's a true delight to experience.

A gripping, heart-breaking piece. I'm not sure my heart was beating at a normal rate during the entire time watching a reading of this play, it's that tense. The story is full of the terrors of homophobia and racism, but what Edwards does with these horrors and how he delicately renders the path from trauma to healing is astonishing. At its core is a tale of blossoming love and acceptance in a world that denies these things to the characters. This play haunts, it breathes and pulses with life.

Schwartz's play skewers the central conceits of reality TV in the tradition of the best satire, but it is so much more than that. Rather than taking the easy route and using her characters as caricatures, the writer gives them a depth and complexity that brings us along on their journeys until at the end we are absolutely cheering for all of them to collaborate and overthrow the confines of a constructed system. All of this is done with humor, empathy, and smart theatrical conceits. Urgent work.

Busser's trademark wit is in full display with this tightly constructed, delightful play. Not to give too much away, but I love how it ably pivots from all-out comedy to a meditation on grief without ever losing its grip on the inherent humor of a very awkward situation. How Busser accomplishes all of this without radical tonal shifts is particularly impressive. Can this writer apply his wonderfully light touch to all of our most heartbreaking moments? I would personally love that!

This playwright has produced some of the most transcendent and beautiful works about grief and loss that I have ever read, and this piece ably continues that legacy. In this case we have the rich thematic possibilities brought up by art and the artistic process used to filter the overwhelming force of grief. The characters are rich and lived in, their interplay both subtle and potent, building up to a close that leaves us spent, cleansed, and steeped in renewal. I absolutely loved this journey.

A play that leaves you stunned thanks to its implications and its bold artistic ambitions. Having three characters played by two actors is already an astonishing theatrical device that could easily feel like overreach, but in Gonzalez's capable hands it is nothing short of revelatory. Identities and sexuality shift in a hazy desert landscape of lust, desire, and manipulation. If important plays make us think and transcendent plays make us feel, then this play is all of that. Incredibly work.

A beautiful journey of a play with just enough fantasy to keep us dreaming and a core story that keeps us grounded with wonderfully textured and alive characters. The stars are everything in this piece, both as symbols of hope and aspiration from fable and as concrete, blazing objects that obey astrophysical laws. Somehow, Watts keeps everything balanced and delicately constructed, leading to moments both devastating and inspiring. Wonderful work, and a great challenge for a production designer.

A truly inventive play. To reduce it to a single theme or type of story would deny all of the other things it's about, and yet it never feels overstuffed with ideas. Kastner interweaves themes and ideas in such a way that they all interrelate and feel organic. The close analysis of the true crime genre and how it intersects with history and legend is insightful, necessary, and timely. It's also a delight to read, full of great characters.