Recommended by Sam Heyman

The Quarry House is a cozy, affirming three-hander that takes the topical and political and makes it very personal. The world-building Williams uses to define the play’s setting makes The Quarry House feel remarkably lived in, its characters rich with history and nuance. I recommend anyone who’s a fan of this playwright’s work to schedule a visit to the Limestone Republic in the near future.

All the world’s a stage, and the email inbox is no exception! Whether you’re an unintentional spectator, an unwitting performer, or just someone who forgot to Bcc, this one’s worth a read - and a few cringey laughs!

Unreliable memory, religious trauma, and one helluva driving playlist - Virgin Creek: A Modern Miracle Play navigates the real, the imagined, and the kind of magic the theatre is perfect for. Vargas writes a play that is at once intimate and expansive, thoroughly researched, and compellingly magical. Lovely, and haunting.

A poet’s heart beats beneath the lines of this short play from Elisabeth Giffin Speckman — “Before We Were Bake Sale Pies” is a sumptuous, sensuous treat.

The unhinged journey Aly Kantor takes us on in Murdering Medea is one that demands to be experienced. There's laughter, there's blood, and there's a lot worth listening to and taking to heart -- particularly about what it means to be a woman in Post-Roe America. The Playwrights Thriving Reading Series presented Murdering Medea as part of its 2025 season, and I, for one, can't wait to see where this play goes!

Drawing from public record while building a world all her own, Nora Louise Syran leads readers and audiences through a revelatory, captivating dig into her characters’ innermost drives in the face of looming disaster. As natural and devised forces converge to wash away a small Turkish community, an archeologist races to preserve evidence of the region’s complex history. Characters are nuanced and layered, and anyone who spends time in this world will come away with more than an insight or two.

Reading 37 Organic Peas, a torrent of pea-puns floods you with whimsy and infectious pea-glee. This is a short pea-ce perfect for all sorts of audiences and actors. Well done to Christopher Plumridge for riffing on an NPX meme in his own unique way!

John Mabey weaves a magnificent poem of a play in Feast & Famine, a theatrical and moving retelling of the Book of Ruth. We understand the kinship between these women intimately, even though they speak precious few words directly to each other. I love how Mabey uses techniques of performance poetry to reveal how of one mind and heart Ruth and Naomi are, even while they struggle to articulate this to each other until the play’s powerful ending. Excellent.

The Hot Tub Play is a delightful comedy that so effectively commands your attention that you’re bound to stay in the pool (or tub) laughing until you’re pruny — in a good way! Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend takes on the challenge of writing a two-hander in a single location with aplomb and mastery - this is a hilarious, earnest, and surprising treat from start to finish.

If Chuck Tingle's Camp Damascus taught us anything, it's that the horror genre needs more autistic protagonists. If William Meurer's Neurologia has taught me anything, it's that horror plays that discuss and represent disability can be just as biting, gripping, and electrifying as any other take on the genre, and can even soar to new heights of tension and poignancy through meaningful engagement with what makes life on the spectrum so challenging--and nuanced. Don't miss out on this work of art.