Recommended by Heather Helinsky

Within this well-made play is a deep passion for silent film, and the kinds of characters who truly revere them. Using the characters of a young drifter and an elderly film aficionado, the audience will enjoy both a sweeping look at the history silent films and deeper insights. Yet beneath the sun-kissed surface, it's also a story about the quirky individuals who come to live in LA in the shadows, and Abley's dialogue really captures affectionately their lives and motivations.

This piece bravely uses the superhero plot to take on rape culture. This is a piece where Vanessa gets into a situation that's relatable---as her workplace ideas get stolen and her comic heroine is objectified by the men in her life. Hoke does good work here flipping the narrative in fun, surprising ways. I hope it continues to receive support and development towards production, as it will easily find an audience.

As a dramaturg for the Great Plains Theatre Conference (2017), I highly recommend this comedy. Two clowns, trying to "become friends" and start an "energy business"...we know this is not going to end well, but you'll have a good time laughing along the way.

As a dramaturg at the Great Plains Theatre Conference, we were thrilled to have CAM BABY in our 2017 PlayLabs. This piece grabs you for a fast-paced roller coaster ride through relationships and doesn't let you go. A brutally honest comedy about mean-spirited and stupid people, with a star-turn role for the actor playing Matabang. Explores questions of over-sharing online, privacy, and trust. Our audience sang this play's praises.

This play is like a painting that catches your eye in a museum and makes you stop---because it is simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar, simple yet complex, accessible yet layered with meaning. This play of Caridad's is full of imagery and modernist poetry, it evokes for me the kind of American imagery of Norman Rockwell, William Carlos Williams, and Muriel Rukeyser. We learn what America is through the eyes of an eleven year old with a red bike, who could forget all his observations the moment he turns 12. Great read.

This play grabbed me right away, with characters on a relentless search of perfection. You can instantly recognize these flawed human beings, but the play is more than that. As a dramaturg always on the hunt for a good math & science play with a strong female character at the center, this play about the science of music hit all the right notes.

It's easy for Americans to forget our own history, let alone what happened in Iran in the 1970s and how we were involved. This play triggered for me those emotions of dread as the characters got entangled in dangerous situations. Love, rituals, and intense political danger. Memories and regrets.

As a dramaturg who is passionate about science plays, I'm happy to recommend this one! This play uses the science to express the challenges in a mother/daughter relationship and it's a beautifully rendered metaphor to contrast earth time & Mars time. As "alternative facts" have put science under attack, there's an urgency from the scientific community to tell stories about science, especially with strong female characters at the center. I would encourage anyone producing right now to "lean in" to this story about a single mother trying her best to connect with her daughter & yet feeling worlds apart.

I always wondered if Tonya Harding's story would be told a different way now, instead of the media frenzy of the '90s. So, as a dramaturg for the Great Plains Theatre Conference, I was thrilled to read Nate's take on Tonya, performed by three actors in a basement with Barbie dolls & VHS tapes! Smart and hilarious, reaching back to the past but then taking us forward. We were happy to have Nate present this work at GPTC '16.

The father's line to his daughter: "I just want to know-need to know that I gave you every tool to keep yourself safe" is a line that really resonated with me. For a play that deals with the death of a young person and physical and emotional abuse, this play is not afraid to explore how all the characters feel culpable in this tragedy. This is a play about hindsight and small gestures with large consequences.