Recommended by Heather Helinsky

Feeling nostalgic for the '90s? If so, not only will you enjoy this mean girl play, but the playwright does a great job taking off the rose-colored glasses and, through humor, makes this play very relevant. Not only a statement on high school bullying pre-social media, but the lessons these girls are learning both in their classrooms and their interpersonal lives make for good drama. The ideal audience would come for the laughs, and stay for the post-show discussion.

If you're looking to engage new audiences, read this one! As the dramaturg for Bella's reading at Great Plains Theatre Conference, we loved the compelling, high stakes problems that the characters are navigating. Bella is able to confidently guide the audience not only through all the math and science, but also the myriad of themes such as exploitation/labor, gender stereotyping, economic struggles and crowdfunding, discrimination, environmental disasters...the list goes on, you got to read this one! This is a passionately told play, it will sweep you away to another galaxy that mirrors our own world.

We often need plays that take us back to an earlier historical moment to understand the complex contemporary political and cultural violence. Christy crafts a delicate journey where brother turns against sister. Zahia's journey is one of those prime roles where the audience goes on a full ride of emotions and empathy. Saw the extremely moving reading at Great Plains Theatre Conference, hope this one has a future production life soon.

I appreciate how this piece is able to weave together mythology, Christmas, and a fascination with ancient ritual (goddess Inanna) into this nuclear family drama. This play never settles into a realistic world with its masked characters, red and yellow roses, and Mary's Hercules vase. I like how the writer guides the audience through complex experiences of dementia and insomnia in this heightened, theatrical, symbolist family drama.

From the first moment I read this play, I was drawn in by Aglaonike's journey, with all her frustrating twists and turns. The writing is complex, layered, but also clear---and young women need to hear this story of an aspiring astronomer from ancient Greek mythology! Well-researched by the playwright and yet also imaginative, poetic and lyrical, I enjoyed dramaturging this play in the early phases of development.

This piece is about the danger of being a "well-meaning, good-hearted person". We quickly learn that this teacher-in-training is way over her head. The play doesn't let anyone off the hook (like a good play should). I first encountered this piece as the dramaturg for the Great Plains Theatre Conference and it got great feedback, the audience was very engaged in the response session. If you have company that cultivates an active conversations with your audience, check this one out, they'll want to stay and talk afterwards.

What was compelling for me was not just the realistic depiction of the anxieties of the girls, but also the doubts and fears that result from grieving a classmate. For the three surviving young women, there’s a nice slow build to reveal how they’ve all been dealing with that grief in high school. The character of Linney is a fresh voice that I rarely see depicted on stage. And for educators, who are always searching to find plays with roles for their student actresses, give this one a look, it's enjoyable and demands to be staged.

Jennie Webb is an original-thinker, a strong voice, and a risk-taker and my hope is someone takes a risk on her work. I first encountered CRAZY BITCH as a dramaturg for Great Plains Theatre Conference and I was engaged by the nuanced relationships between the women (including the needy immortal jellyfish!). Jennie doesn't write about the world being a safe place, nor is her story a "safe" story, but even in the play's most abstract qualities, be assured Jennie delivers a play with a lot of heart and brutal truths.

Jared Strange is a good craftsman and has built a vivid, detailed world in this small town play about the monsters that live within us. It's clear this tale about monsters has contemporary relevance. Jared also know hows to build tension. One of my favorite moments in the play is a speech delivered by Agnes, Jeremiah's wife who has been silent for most of the play, but her speech packs a punch to the gut.

I also saw the Azuka Theatre production and the Southern Gothic humor pulled in the 20-30-something demographic which is what we often mean when we say we're "in search of new audiences", so perhaps think of Jackie like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon taking over late night talk shows. But what I appreciate from reading this play is that the characters are clinging on to dear life to their old world while the menacing presence of corporate America is pressing in on these weird, quirky sisters.