Recommended by Franky D. Gonzalez

The best comedies can get their point across in a few pages. Kevin King knows how to write these kinds of comedies. You feel like you know everyone in this play, and even with its dash of absurdity, there's even some truth to it. If such a scenario were to happen, of course it would be at Starbucks. A great gem of a play.

There's a lot said in so very few lines in this one-minute play by Larry Rinkel. You hear the realism and universality of the conversation (many of us have had versions of this conversation or moments from this conversation with our loved ones. But at the same time there is a specificity to both characters that makes you wanting to know more about both characters' circumstances in this new pandemic affected world.

There's much that gets unpacked in this playlet by the increasingly prolific Philip Middleton Williams, not the least of which is the exploration of bigotry and and narrow-minded actions by those who are both in perspective and in self, stuck in the past. To see bigotry so casually displayed and passed off as "beliefs" show the insidious ways in which people justify a worldview that seeks to oppress and police how one lives their life, but it wouldn't be a Philip Middleton Williams play without humor and his trademark punchline that collapses the bigot's message. A great short piece.

An intense, heart-wrenching look at the aftermath of gun violence that reminds you that tragedy continues long after the tragic event. Ali MacLean creates a play that will fill you with outrage, empathy, sadness, and eventual hope. A moving and beautiful play that speaks humanity into an issue that's devolved into impersonal partisan bickering.

This play is like receiving a wave of emotions all at once. You're left trying to navigate everything you've taken in and can't come to anything remotely close to the peace you had before experiencing LEGACY LAND. Masterfully written and pulsing with so much heart and soul. Stacey Rose is at the absolute top of her game with this play. It dives deeply into the heart of abuse and generational trauma. It will make you laugh and cry and make you go back to re-read parts with new eyes after revelations are laid bare. A magnificent play. A marvel.

A hilarious period piece that may as well belong to today's modern times. Garrett Bell's Une Comédie Française utilizes so many of the hallmarks of farce and comedy that is both familiar yet refreshing. Most striking (and frankly astounding) about this play is how it is both hilarious and serious at once. You feel equal measures sympathy and schadenfreude at what happens to everyone here. Definitely a play that will be appreciated by period piece lovers and fans of more modern theatre.

Scott Sickles presents some of the absolute best meditations on the human condition in the most interesting of circumstances. In this monologue we're taken with Benton deeper and deeper into a love story that becomes more complicated with each passing memory. A dynamite monologue that unfolds with the grace of a flower. It strikes both humor and poignancy in equal measure. Sickles is in total command of his craft here.

If this is the first draft, I cannot wait to see what Nelson Diaz-Marcano has in store for the future of this play. Told with a searing honesty, Nelson utilizes social issues that plague society to talk about that most important issue: the future. Y TU ABUELA, WHERE IS SHE? is a high stakes drama that spans generations in a single night providing us with the difficult and necessary conversations that will go beyond this family dynamic on stage and into the long-overdue consciousness of people across Latin America. I hope we can see this play produced soon. Magnificent play.

Meditating on the meaning of forgiveness, the muddiness of memory in the face of trauma, poverty, visions, the desperation behind trying to break the cycle of abusive fatherhood. What doesn't FRESNO by Augusto Amador pack into its pages? And yet, there is not an ounce of fat on this marvel of a play. Every movement is necessary, every action filled with the weight struggles over years trapped in the brutal cycle of poverty. But more, there is love that exists in this play. Love that warps, love that heals, love that gives a way forward, love that burns. A marvel.

A masterwork. A beautiful human document spanning over 20 years telling the story of an immigrant surviving and enduring through much more than people should in a too-often cruel world. You will laugh and you will cry, and you will feel so many emotions as you journey with Darja. I can't recommend this play enough.