Recommended by Sam Heyman

When I say this play devastated me, you shouldn't have any reason to think I’m exaggerating — this is Scott Sickles we’re talking about after all.

I think the most terrifying part about Tesseract isn’t that it feels so close to happening, but that it is already happening, in some form, all across our nation and our world. It is both a warning and a warped mirror, a plea and a primal scream. When the curtain falls, or you reach the last page, it will leave you changed.

I had the pleasure of viewing a reading of “sorry sorry okay sorry” (formerly "Tryhard") at the Valdez Theatre Conference, and not to be vulgar from the jump, but this play kicked my ass. Emily Elyse Everett strikes a deft balance between moments of gut-busting laughter -- often tied to her masterful skewering of 'hyper-therapized' communication styles -- and an undercurrent of intense tragedy. I am not exaggerating when I say this play's climax devastated me, in the best way. I can't wait for more audiences to get to know Clementine, Clancy, and David.

“The Polycule” is thoughtful, clever, and metered in more ways than one; Jillian Blevins absolutely nails the challenges and pitfalls of non-monogamy by examining both what is required for them to succeed and the reasons they can often fail. This play’s diverse cast of characters may seem broad at first, but Blevins manages to imbue each with human flaws that highlight the play’s themes and thesis: a successful relationship, no matter how many partners are involved, cannot be built on a foundation of distrust, selfishness, or dishonest communication. This comedy of manners demands to be staged!

A lovely meditation on loss, grief and the process of rediscovering joy in one's former passions, "The Peculiar Puppets of Philip Platt" has the right amount of whimsy and heart to uplift any wayward soul. This short play from Brenton Kniess is meant for an audience!

What a rich, lovely one-act from Philip Middleton Williams! Like the paintings housed in its gallery and the artist they memorialize, "Watercolors" is a work of beauty made more powerful by its brevity. Williams takes a tight cast of 4 actors and probes feelings of love, loss, and letting go while also meditating on the art world, what it takes to succeed, and what might be more important than fame and fortune. I would love to see this staged!

Locked between his obligations to his Catholic, Irish family and his loyalty to his embittered, ex-Catholic lover, Kevin O'Connor has quite a choice to make. However, the choice is less about whose side Kevin takes than what Kevin is willing to tolerate when it comes to disrespect about who he is and the life he wants to live.

Paul Donnelly's "Tis True, Ma" navigates the challenge of queer people who come out later in life to not just receive the acceptance they crave, but to demand the respect they deserve with cultural specificity and heart. Excellent work.

“If a gun is placed on the mantelpiece in the first act…”

Though it’s Chekhovian lineage is admittedly loose, “Three-Book Deal” is a rich, dark comedy whose central sisterly pair jump off the page immediately. I love the subtle ways that Monogue develops each character and their circumstances, effortlessly leading us unaware to the play’s surprising conclusion. Excellent work!

Sarah Jae Leiber has created a beautiful, poignant song-for-the-stage about two people, two beautiful souls, yearning to be heard, and to hear the truth of their experiences spoken back to them in a language they understand.

"speaking strictly for me" will speak to anyone who has loved someone and has struggled to find closure in some mutual truth that stubbornly refuses to be brought to the surface. You don't have to know Dylan or Joanie before reading this play, but by the end, you will. And it will break your heart all over again.

There are some who feel that Jewish storytelling about the Holocaust has run its course; priority should now, in their estimation, be given to other eras, struggles, and triumphs of the Jewish people.

With “Mere Waters,” Jillian Blevins has produced a work that should dispel the doubts of any naysayers weary of another torturous return to that chapter of our shared history.

The work Blevins has put into bringing this stranger-than-fiction true story to life for the stage shines through. “Mere Waters,” in an era of rampant anti-semitic and anti-choice rhetoric, is a vital cultural document, not to be missed.

Good parodies are relatively simple to pull off -- but great parodies require both a commitment to the source material and enough invention to make the new work stand on its own. Well everybody, Scott Sickles has NAILED it with "The Presidential Chili Cook Off."

Sickles lampoons famed political thrillers, the highs and lows of high school football--I mean American chili cook offs, and the inability of most people to properly set their privacy settings on Venmo.

Cramming over a dozen characters, scenes, and laugh out loud moments into less than twenty pages, this play is masterful parodic work. Delicious!