Recommended by Victoria Z. Daly

A very clever look at the second-generation members of the current First Family. If they were characters in a Greek tragedy and had already met with a turn of fortune, how might they plan revenge in this world of unrelenting news cycles? Any theater planning a political festival should consider this hilarious verse play.

A lovely piece -- part story theater, part political satire -- about class and economics; about how the way someone is treated can turn him into exactly the thing he's been labelled. Though the message is serious about the capitalist system (this is the stuff of revolutions,) the theatrical treatment keeps the play engaging and almost lighthearted. Consider this for your politically-themed festival.

Another beautiful monologue from Wyndham, bringing us right into the schoolyard experience and family life of a young girl trying to figure out why guys (her male classmates; her Dad) get a pass when they act like aggressive jerks with females. As Wyndham so efficiently points out, this dynamic starts young: "boys will be boys" behavior gets condoned/dismissed from the beginning, while girls are expected to tolerate it. I'm hoping her Mom will set her straight -- except that Mom married someone just as jerky as the school boys. So much to think about here, and so wonderfully complicated.

Love the mixture of contemporary and ancient in this funny and thought-provoking play about the obstacles for women to fighting the patriarchy and the male gaze. I'd love to see this un-self-aware Botticelli and hip Venus square off on stage, as she does everything to avoid climbing into that oversized clam shell. A sure crowd pleaser for a 10-minute festival.

This monologue covers so much necessary territory in such a short amount of time. What starts off as a call center rep's hilarious rant about Amber Alerts (which only seem, ever, to be about white kids) turns into a pointed rallying cry about the divided and unequal state our country -- a much more encompassing kind of emergency. Consider this for your political themed festival.

In THE PHILLIE TRILOGY, Doug Devita exhibits a sublime eye and ear for the details that add up to real, living characters. The members of this mismatched extended family, in 1970’s Long Island and beyond, need each other — especially in an environment rigid in its religious and sexual standards. Yet each one acts by turns hilarious and awful, his or her own worst enemy. Underneath it all runs the ache of a boy isolated in his own home town who yearns for escape. DeVita’s great achievement is to make us feel for all the characters, even the most deluded.