Recommended by Jacob Marx Rice

A delightfully funny and strange play. Every time you think you've gotten it figured out, the play pulls the rug out from under you until you're not sure what's real (and then it somehow pulls the rug out again.) The characters are vivid and delightful, the jokes are funny, and the structure is clearly the work of a mad genius. An absolute pleasure to read.

An intricately woven tapestry of four different women and how pain, trauma and abandonment are passed through nature and nurture. By tracking four generations of the women in this family, the play shows both how we create ourselves as individuals and how we are created, and haunted, by those before us. A beautiful, tragic look at the pain and necessity of setting off on your own journey refracted through time and space.

Sheltered starts off as a delightful period comedy of manners, then just keeps deepening until you find yourself staring fully into the abyss. One of those rare period plays that succeeds in making you see both the past and the present in a new light. A devastating play about the choices we make and the sacrifices that catastrophe forces us to face. It manages to be funny and smart, charming and humane all the way through, taking the reader on a journey that left me gasping.

Clever, sexy and ultimately quite touching, its got two great roles for actors looking to explore the depth of honest, realistic characters. Keyes keeps the tension high in a single set, continuous two-hander, an impressive feat made all the more impressive by the fact that he makes it look easy.

A beautiful, haunting play about trauma and the ways that human connection can overcome. The play starts out feeling like a regular ghost story but blossoms into an inspiring story of the power of hope even in the face of despair. It's funny, spooky, challenging and ultimately deeply moving. An absolute pleasure to read.

A deeply challenging play about the complexities of the mentor-mentee relationship and the struggle to find your own voice among the pressures the world places on people (and the pressures they lace on themselves). The play confronts difficult, uncomfortable issues and never pulls punches.

A beautifully sweet and sad story about a young girl processing trauma by trying to create a world without hurt in her backyard. The piece perfectly balances the innocence of childhood and an adult wisdom about how harsh the world can be. Every character has such a distinct voice (the wise-acre Grass bent on world domination is a particular delight) and the humor arises from the honesty of the portrait of these “people” (most of whom are plants or animals.) A seemingly simple story that keeps growing deeper and deeper until it buries itself in your heart.

A beautiful play about the soft tragedies that can so easily define our lives. It's funny, moving, and just the right amount of risqué. Femia puts together characters so naturally that you hardly notice how exceptionally well-crafted it is until you get to the end and find yourself deeply moved.

A stunningly beautiful play steeped in magic and the spirit of New York. Mermaid Parade is funny and deeply touching, with some incredible surprises that delight and inspire.