Recommended by Stephen Foglia

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    What most strikes me, nestled in among the impeccable craftsmanship, great jokes, and delightful speculative twists, is O'Day's extension of Shakespeare's own ambivalence towards Falstaff: here we find the great good fun of a glutton, his seductive humanity opposed to all that is desiccated and joyless in our well-ordered society, and yet within little more than an hour we have also a second King Ubu, whose laughable corruption uncomfortably parallels recent US history.

    Before I run out of words, I want to add this is full of terrific roles. Actors, dig in!

    What most strikes me, nestled in among the impeccable craftsmanship, great jokes, and delightful speculative twists, is O'Day's extension of Shakespeare's own ambivalence towards Falstaff: here we find the great good fun of a glutton, his seductive humanity opposed to all that is desiccated and joyless in our well-ordered society, and yet within little more than an hour we have also a second King Ubu, whose laughable corruption uncomfortably parallels recent US history.

    Before I run out of words, I want to add this is full of terrific roles. Actors, dig in!

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    Trash is such a perceptive play, both about the charming man at its center, who repeatedly takes advantage of young people, and about the teenagers who are initially drawn to him. Mulley somehow manages to tell the story in a way that is simultaneously deeply uncomfortable and impossible to turn away from. Maybe part of it is the elegant structure, with simple, precisely crafted scenes for two actors building to an emotionally savage climax.

    Trash is such a perceptive play, both about the charming man at its center, who repeatedly takes advantage of young people, and about the teenagers who are initially drawn to him. Mulley somehow manages to tell the story in a way that is simultaneously deeply uncomfortable and impossible to turn away from. Maybe part of it is the elegant structure, with simple, precisely crafted scenes for two actors building to an emotionally savage climax.

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    Twisty and funny and cuts right to the dramatic heart!

    Twisty and funny and cuts right to the dramatic heart!

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    Linchpin is funny, timely, and theatrical to its bones. I love the way Arky has conceived stage-space -- i.e. the space of Maxine's head -- and that rolls over into the really sharp way he plays on her relationship to the audience. This is a show of vivid characters and vibrant images, in service of a lively portrait of depression and millennial malaise.

    Linchpin is funny, timely, and theatrical to its bones. I love the way Arky has conceived stage-space -- i.e. the space of Maxine's head -- and that rolls over into the really sharp way he plays on her relationship to the audience. This is a show of vivid characters and vibrant images, in service of a lively portrait of depression and millennial malaise.

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    What a compassionate, generous play. True to its setting description, A Brief List of Everyone Who Died gives you an entire life, bobbing brightly in the shadow of many deaths. Jacob Marx Rice manages the difficult trick of writing an every(wo)man story that actually feels ultra-specific and inclusive. The play has a kind of effortless propulsion, nimbly dancing through many years then finding the perfect places for breathtaking pauses.

    What a compassionate, generous play. True to its setting description, A Brief List of Everyone Who Died gives you an entire life, bobbing brightly in the shadow of many deaths. Jacob Marx Rice manages the difficult trick of writing an every(wo)man story that actually feels ultra-specific and inclusive. The play has a kind of effortless propulsion, nimbly dancing through many years then finding the perfect places for breathtaking pauses.

  • Stephen Foglia: Maybe Tomorrow by Max Mondi
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    I've loved this play from the first time I read it. It's hilarious and heartfelt and full of delightful inventions. Mondi captures his characters with such warmth that you love to spend a whole night in a mobile home toilet with them. Its wisdom about relationships and difficult life transitions sneaks up in ways too clever to spoil. I'm dying to see it in production!

    I've loved this play from the first time I read it. It's hilarious and heartfelt and full of delightful inventions. Mondi captures his characters with such warmth that you love to spend a whole night in a mobile home toilet with them. Its wisdom about relationships and difficult life transitions sneaks up in ways too clever to spoil. I'm dying to see it in production!

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  • Stephen Foglia: and Isabella Bootlegs by Samantha Cooper
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    I think this play is just dazzling. Interlocking stories of mother-daughter conflict and inherited trauma told with Gothic flair and supremely confident theatricality. I'm talking bootleggers, secrets in the attic, dead bodies in the freezer, and ghosts every way you turn. It's a rich, knowing play that feels utterly present while probing through the past.

    I think this play is just dazzling. Interlocking stories of mother-daughter conflict and inherited trauma told with Gothic flair and supremely confident theatricality. I'm talking bootleggers, secrets in the attic, dead bodies in the freezer, and ghosts every way you turn. It's a rich, knowing play that feels utterly present while probing through the past.

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  • Stephen Foglia: Sheltered by Alix Sobler
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    Part of what's so impressive about this play, to me, is how Sobler crystallizes a broad and depthless historical tragedy into an utterly clear dramatic moment. That ability allows her, without crowding the play with nudges or winks or post-modern tricks, to draw unmistakeable connections to today, and to eternal questions of moral responsibility and of courage. She takes a something overwhelming and brings it right back to a (tense, funny) dinner with neighbors, to the (beautifully drawn) inner dynamics of a marriage, to the (heartbreaking) connection between two women.

    Part of what's so impressive about this play, to me, is how Sobler crystallizes a broad and depthless historical tragedy into an utterly clear dramatic moment. That ability allows her, without crowding the play with nudges or winks or post-modern tricks, to draw unmistakeable connections to today, and to eternal questions of moral responsibility and of courage. She takes a something overwhelming and brings it right back to a (tense, funny) dinner with neighbors, to the (beautifully drawn) inner dynamics of a marriage, to the (heartbreaking) connection between two women.

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  • Stephen Foglia: The End of Days by Jeffrey James Keyes
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    I loved reading this play and wish even more that I could see it! It's fast, sharp, sexy, and so smart about how old relationships live on, changed, inside of us. The fact that it's a two-hander with a subtly-drawn female lead makes it even more appealing for production.

    I loved reading this play and wish even more that I could see it! It's fast, sharp, sexy, and so smart about how old relationships live on, changed, inside of us. The fact that it's a two-hander with a subtly-drawn female lead makes it even more appealing for production.

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  • Stephen Foglia: Breathing in the Rain by Callan Stout
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    This play has everything: song, dance, puppetry, magic, and at its center a heartbreaking story of a child trying to hold her world together using the only powers she understands. I love how Breathing In The Rain makes the world around an old FEMA trailer so large -- full of menace but also the tender possibilities of love. Stout gifts directors and designers with tremendous theatrical possibilities, and she gifts the audience with a lead character they won't soon forget.

    This play has everything: song, dance, puppetry, magic, and at its center a heartbreaking story of a child trying to hold her world together using the only powers she understands. I love how Breathing In The Rain makes the world around an old FEMA trailer so large -- full of menace but also the tender possibilities of love. Stout gifts directors and designers with tremendous theatrical possibilities, and she gifts the audience with a lead character they won't soon forget.

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