Recommended by Franky D. Gonzalez

You think you know what's happening until the twist comes and makes you laugh out loud to find out the truth. It's the kind of play you want to see staged just to see how a theatre company can pull it off. A fantastical, and really enjoyable piece that throws curveballs and new twists from start to finish.

An action-thriller in ten minutes or less. Dominica has all of the hallmarks of a big-budget Hollywood movie, with punchy back and forth dialogue between the professor and her former student. There are subtleties and hints of the past that would be a delight for a director and actors to explore when tackling this fun and funny play.

This play is relentless in the examinations of social mores and dynamics that are usually written off as "just the way it is." Lindsay Adams creates a play that has its moments of humor but never losing the the gravity of a mother's love being tested by the alleged crimes of a son. It's a play that makes you reevaluate preconceived notions along with Jen as you take this journey with her. The play has wonderful levels and dialogue that actors and directors can grasp quickly and bring to life almost effortlessly.

A quirky and hilarious exploration of what the characters of an unread story feel when the reader is distracted. Two stories in two different worlds, bound together in the most unlikely ways create this mime piece. Yes, a mime play is the medium that explores teenage love and a medieval quest of true love and bravery. It's the kind of play that you want to see mounted to see how the director and technical team pull off the logistics while the actors pull of the acting in this brief but highly entertaining play.

How one processes the profundity and spectrum of emotions that come with with loss is difficult to define. So too, this play is difficult to define and leaves so many questions which allow for one to fill in those gaps with the range and spectrum of one's own losses and private griefs. Emily Hageman presents a couple making sense of unfathomable tragedy trying to find "Fine" again. It's a play that bears repeated readings and perhaps repeated processing. Take it in, and read this play aloud to hear the depth of these two in how they deal with pain.

There's a bit of melancholy in the stream-of-consciousness of a hyperactive kid trying to be his father's child. For all the hyperactivity and flittering thoughts of River, you discover a child that wants to be loved and has complex thought-processes that speak of the adult to come. It's a sweet, funny monologue and one that completely subverts your expectations of someone in this kind of situation.

You truly can imagine ravens acting exactly like this with tormented writers who take themselves really seriously. A wonderful and hilarious take on the famous Poe work. Hageman explores unrequited love, writer's block, crow dating, windows, and butcher shops. It breezes by so quickly and has so much, you can hardly believe it is only fifteen pages long. Combining over-the-top eloquence with confused realistic dialogue, this play is a perfect fit for your Halloween, Comedy, Poe-Tribute festivals. A fun read! Check it out!

A play where jealousies and barbs at your scene partner is the surface to much more complex and serious conversation about what the future can hold and what feelings have always existed. Julie Zaffarano creates the kind of dialogue that you wonder if it was taken from a candid moment overheard or a recorded conversation, that's how well it moves.

You'll find a lump forming in your throat reading through this play. Cantrell explores the complex questions of beauty and femininity in this wonderful play about multi-generational illness and the manifestations of shame and fear that come with an illness that gets passed down. This play lives up to its title, it's "A Thing of Beauty," through and through. Definitely a play that has a place in evenings of theatre to raise awareness or for benefits. You'll fall in love with this play and these characters. Read it and meditate on this lovely play.

A fun play on words and the fantasy of so many young men who want to be that awkward kid who doesn't know quite what to do when someone likes them. It's a fun short piece that could be the ending to a long play about a shy guy coming into his own and the dialogue is tongue-twistingly fun. A fun short from Matthew Weaver!