Recommended by Heather Helinsky

This is written by a confident voice asking generational questions about the mixed messages received about sex, power, peer pressure, and consent. The characters are vivid and brimming with complicated emotions and agendas as one night at a sleepover unfolds. Is the joy of dance that bonds them all empowering or is it just another competitive activity pressuring them to conform to societal expectations for femininity?

Lorraine is at a crossroads with her career and personal life and this play has me deeply invested in Lorraine's choices. This play affirms mental health, black female friendship, and healthy boundaries, while the writer takes us on a journey where the options are complicated. There is much potential in dramatizing Lorraine's "happy place" and sitting in a liminal space of waiting that is highly relatable, with comic moments that are self-aware, and speeches that paint vibrantly the complicated emotions that can hold one back from personal growth and decisiveness. Wishing this play a swift journey to production!

This play has theatrical poetic imagery of the desert, strong female characters, and an ensemble of activists who cope with the mundane reality of tragedy. This play moves fluidly between water and scorching desert, present Earth/soil and intangible spiritual afterlife. There is both the aching feeling of the loss of a mother woven through the whole play while keeping her spirit ever-present and alive. When your rational brain knows your mother couldn't possibly survive that long in the desert, how do you handle your grief and loss in front of your young daughter, who is all you have now?

Each distinct act is a snapshot of a vibrant community disrupted by racism and capitalism. Each of the three acts is just enough to build the world and invest the audience in the residents who live in the neighborhood, before we are swept away to another era of inequity. Each portraiture is given for the audience to create their own meaning, and overall poses a challenging question of why do we all allow this to happen again and again over time?

This is a theatrical investigation of the story of rape culture written into the foundation of two religions, and yet rarely called into question. Emma breathes three-dimensional life into characters in search of justice: the young questioner, the ghost, and the one who remained silent. This play uses heightened language, musicality, Socratic dialogue, and a gripping ghost story to drive a clear, concise point home: society will always be haunted by patriarchal control over women's bodies and this well-woven braid of a play provides an opportunity for audiences to find contemporary parallels within the ancient narrative.

This play fiercely dives right into the heart of many relatable questions of body diversity that we're not used to hearing on stage. One of the play's many strengths is demonstrating all the precise ways language is used to shame bodies of size. Millie is a relatable, active protagonist as she struggles to let other people's perceptions dictate her own existence. This is a powerful, non-linear play which launches us into conversations about whiteness intersecting with the culture of thinness that is theatrically innovative, enlightening, and ultimately empowering.

This is a play full of mystery, magic, cultural lore, and symbolism as the main character goes on a healing journey. This play is full of theatrical potential as we encounter many tricksters and demons, as Lena searches for answers to her father's side of the family. This play feels satisfying as it weaves together both Filipino and Romanian cultures, and asks if we ultimately need the answer to all the family legacy questions, but are we ready to accept ourselves for who we are now in order to heal and grow?

This play explores the friendship of two young women from a community that silences women, and gives them a safe space to be light, funny, passionate fangirls and dramatizes their desire for deep love and connection. The play is a fresh take and has a bubbly, magical theatricality as they express their secrets and the sincere ways they connect to their faith. This play is a glimpse. The writer makes me deeply care for them as the narrative moves fluidly from their dreams towards the darker realities they face culturally with their mental health and cycles of patriarchal abuse.

This intergenerational play excels in asking existential questions of how to face the future while still dealing with the violence and hatred of the past. This play invokes a deep emotional connection to place, as three strong women have different grief responses to the family history and culture lost. The Chekhovian aesthetic that balances humor and sadness all at once is executed with craft and skill. As the dramaturg for this play for JPP's 13th Contest, I've witnessed the continual evolution of a play for three women that's extremely relevant and ready for collaborators to create an impactful production.

This is a play that resonates as relatable because how often does one work for a dream organization that then results in disillusionment? I enjoyed how this piece was a formal mixture of social commentary play about ghost lighting early career professionals, while also having gothic elements, as the House where they work is a haunting character. Each character has the opportunity to examine their values and make a decision to either stay and fight for the cause they believe in, or leave an organization with toxic structures. This play has good structural bones and definitely sparks conversations.