Recommended by Franky D. Gonzalez

There are playwrights with a talent to make the quirky into the devastating. Burbano is one such playwright. Combining at once the nature of joy and sadness, Burbano captures the concept of memory and loss in such a compact monologue. You go through the 80s and reach today like a bike ride down a hill going faster and faster until you're here at this moment breathing deeply and reminiscing on the triumphs and tragedies of life. A wonderful monologue for an actress with experience and courage. Take a moment and read it. It's like life, passing by too quickly.

A fun play which plays on the Passover story in a humorous and charming way. The oldest battle in all history is the story of unyielding parents and plotting children trying to get their way. Playwright Steven Hayet takes that oldest of themes and combines it with a story that's almost as old to create a humorous hybrid of Child against Parent. A fun play that's fun for people of all ages. Check it out!

Surviving through hardship and trying to make do with what life has given you takes on a poetic and funny tone with Krause's elegant yet hilarious WE WERE ALWAYS OUR OWN THING. Debates about eating a pineapple, disappointing our parents, storms, and songs come up through this surprisingly dense--for eight pages--play. It bears a few repeated readings, but each reading brings a new chuckle and a new thought to ponder, especially when you reach the end. You are left wondering just what happened, and you don't know if you should be sad or happy, and that's what's most magical here.

At the heart of this play is the question of what defines action and what defines indifference. Ideologies compete and a compelling story of alienation, parenthood, and resentment form the backdrop of Julie and Simone's story. Gino Dilorio takes us on a journey from this premise that will leave you questioning the ethics of changing the status quo and ponder over what actions are truly justified and which are not. But more than a philosophical meditation, Dilorio takes us on a journey through the lives of two complex and sympathetic women trying to navigate a less than perfect world. Marvelous...

There are some premises than make you raise an eyebrow. But when that premise is being handled by a playwright with the talent of Matthew Capodicasa, you know you are going on a journey that is both hilarious and tender. He captures both so well in these characters that you ache to know more, but the enigma in the human condition much like this city is one where the mystery enhances your appreciation of the play. Read it again and again and I promise, you will draw new information, and new conclusions each time.

A beautiful play that subverts every narrative you ever heard regarding the Little Red Riding Hood fable. Gwynn creates devastatingly effective characters whose storyline can sometimes lead you one way and then completely blow up your assumptions with a new revelation a scene later. Her command of subtlety allows you to go along this journey through the woods never knowing who or what is lurking there. Gwynn's use of shadows and phantoms along with her tight dialogue create a Litte Red Riding Hood story perhaps as it always should have been told, with its dark secrets just beneath the surface.

This uniquely amazing take on the Calypso myth by Monfiletto will take you through revolution, the AIDS crisis, and absolutely gorgeous poetic dialogue that effortlessly switches between imagery that can go toe to toe with Federico Garcia Lorca or Vicente Aleixandre to the absolute guttteral which wouldn't be out of place in a New York City project. The play's language alone is so beautiful and paints such a vivid picture that a literal bare stage could be this play's set and you would still feel that the setting is gorgeous and lush. Read and be awed by Massimo's gran obra.

Minnicino has created an unsettling and beautiful play that will at once make you laugh, feel uneasy, feel empathy, and take you through a meditation on the nature of truth and fiction and the parts we play in controlling our own and others' lives. Minnicino does not pull punches in this play, and no character can be called a perfect hero. Rather he explores the dilemna faced by those who hurt and want nothing more than to make it go away. A beautiful play and a wondrous philosophical meditation on cults and trying to find happiness. It bears repeat readings.

I cannot recommend this play enough. Jessica Huang takes us on a journey unlike any I have ever been on. Huang is nothing short of a virtuoso guiding an audience through what is at once heartbreakingly sad as it is infectiously funny. This play is sublime. The characters have a presence and immediacy that you don't see too much of in contemporary drama. The story is treated with such humanity and is... I can't come up with better words. PRODUCE THIS PLAY!! READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!!! WHEN IT IS PUBLISHED, BUY IT!! This play is destined for greatness.

To me the best comedies explore the personal tragedies. In SHIP by Douglas Williams you will read an elegant yet thoroughly modern comedy with some of the most realistic dialogue you'll read anywhere. Williams gives us three quirky and complex characters who take personal journeys and grow not necessarily toward vanquishing, their demons but toward a more realistic making peace with past mistakes and growing stronger and more subtle over a more radical transformation. Don't let this philosophizing fool you, though. SHIP is a really funny play that's gonna leave you in stitches.