Recommended by Heather Helinsky

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.

What begins as a sharp, cutting, scheming revenge play, which is fun to start, then takes the audience on a switchback mountain road. Enjoyed the journey of this satire and the imagery of the Frida Kahlo-inspired portrait.

This piece caught my attention for many reasons. First of all, it's always great to have another strong piece about women in science out there. Beyond that, I enjoyed the thematic idea of two different versions of the same woman, in parallel universes, and living completely different lives. "What if I had?" is a question explored in depth in a way that audiences would find relatable, as well as other important existential questions. This is a high stakes piece to discover the mysteries of the universe before the clock runs out. And lyrical too.

Clever, well-paced piece about microaggressions in the rehearsal room. Of course, these aggressions build dramatically as the play unwinds into a comic mayhem train wreck! Plays referenced certainly make good digs at the culture of community theatre, what gets chosen to be performed, and what doesn't.

This play explores the difficult life question: "should we have known from the beginning it was a mistake?" Plays about road trips are full of metaphors about America, especially this particular piece that journeys the wide, open road stretching from Montana to Texas. Witty, full of dark humor, and strong characters for older actors.

I first encountered this play through the Kennedy Center's Undergraduate Playwrights Workshop. This piece uses Sam Shepard realism to explore Japanese-American family life behind closed doors. A strength of this script is how the family relates to Felix, the older brother with autism. Keep your eyes on this emerging writer!