Recommended by Franky D. Gonzalez

There's a lot to unpack in The Plague by Rachael Carnes. There are much larger commentaries here than the narrative lets on. It gives you a sense of everything wrong with our current society and critiques the flaws in the structures we live in. It's a deeply affecting show about camaraderie, resistance, human endurance, and ultimately the decisions we make as we try to navigate the worst of situations. There's a lot here and there's more to think about after reading this play.

There are conversations that parents have with children where the child realizes that their parent may not be just the dictator of the house but also a person whose experiences and fears guide so much of their seemingly illogical decisions regarding their children. Rachael Carnes creates that moment when a daughter sees her mother in a way that one is never quite prepared for but will nevertheless have at some point. It's a coming of age story that rings so true and, tragically, is relevant today and will probably be relevant tomorrow. A fine play with heart and purpose.

There is so much we don't know, and so much we are given insight into with this play. The magic of LAST EXIT by Philip Middleton Williams is that in the places where we don't have information Philip encourages us to share our empathy, sympathies, and compassion. Love is complicated. Love that has been broken to a point of no return but with the broken ends still wanting to reunite again makes for heartbreak. There is much to be said about this play, but those final moments speak to the heart. We've been there, even when we haven't, we have.

There are big questions and ideas discussed in this dialogue. In the same way Beckett's Krapp listens to and interrogates himself from thirty years previously, Cameron Houg presents an inverse looking toward tomorrow and what will come, what will be lost and what will always be remembered. It's a play that invites reflection on one's own direction before one takes it and asks us all to think about what it is we're going toward and if that path we've chosen may be one to reexamine. A lovely play that goes faster than expected but stays longer than you prepared for.

A humorous play that blinds sci-fi, romantic comedy, and the use of ASL on the stage. Playwright Katherine Gwynn creates a world for the reader that helps us adjust to the futuristic setting in the most inventive of ways and also provides a template for what theatre can truly achieve when committed to diversity of backgrounds and experiences. A perfect play for an ASL friendly production or festival (which the American stage is desperately in need of). Read the play and marvel at how masterfully Gwynn has created both a fun, pioneering work with lots of potential for theatre companies.

A commentary and an indictment of this world's cruelty, toxic ambition, and greed. There are no winners in Koivisto's world, only chaos, excuses, and ultimately suffering. A very poignant short play that is biting in satire and will leave you thinking and strike you in a way you never thought you could be stricken.

Steven Hayet shows the depths of a mother's love and guidance to her daughter on the road to a successful career. It's a play with a lot of heart, laughs, and snark. It also shows parenting at its finest during the holidays. The gift Sydney gets may not be what she wanted but her mother had the foresight to know it's what she needed. It's a fun play that is perfect for any holiday series of shows.

Hayet takes the famous Shaggy song and turns it into a new play about owning up for one's misdeeds. Hayet fills us in on the playbook of the powerful and how they attempt to evade any reckoning for their past and also speaks at the conscience of so many who deny, deny, deny even in the face of overwhelming evidence. It's a play that embodies much more than the five-minute runtime appears to offer.

Steven Hayet has such a great command of pop culture and reality television monologue, I'm almost convinced he's the secret writer of many of these reality shows. This monologue gives us the essential template of every cheap attempt by a reality to show to get sympathy for a contestant. Best yet, it'll give you a chuckle or two as you have the formula thrown right back at you from every cooking competition show ever, while still remaining fresh and giving this template an air of originality.

There's a bit of a warm smile you get as these students bring even the smallest roles in a school play into the highest of stakes. Steven Hayet creates the kind of backstory you expect from theatre schoolkids and stands up for the kids finding joy in their imagination and turning a lesser role into something amazing. It's a fun play with some really great dialogue and rhythm. It would completely fit any school play event.