Recommended by Sam Heyman

"Crisis Exercise" is an intimate time lapse of a generation being destroyed. The play captures both the delicate nature of boyhood and the unkindness and bitterness that is bound to arise as a culture of violence burrows into the hearts of children. What is most striking about Blevins' writing is how it portrays not just the numbness school-age youth are trained to feel, but the underlying panic and fear that hides beneath that numb facade. A chilling, heartbreaking play.

The more I think about PIT, the more I am in awe of Daniel Prillaman’s ability to hold the terrible and terrifying truths of his play’s premise just out of reach until the play’s final moments.

Absurd, dark, and satisfyingly cyclical, PIT places its characters in a literal pit of despair, but the humor of the script and its various character dynamics prevent it from becoming too depressing. Sometimes a good day is hunting for rocks and getting your favorite flavor of toaster pastry. Sometimes, you can’t avoid getting shit on your shoes. Excellent, clever work.

When family, romantic partners, and society encourage you to starve and shrink yourself, it's only a matter of time before your desires demand to be unleashed. With HOT BLOOD SUNDAE, Aly Kantor captures, with deliciously escalatory fervor, the at times insatiable hunger that afflicts not just beasts of the night but the women at the play's juicy center. Audiences will shriek and howl with laughter -- and they might be left with cravings they can no longer ignore... Fantastic!

There's nothing quite as heartening as awkward flirtation that manages to go over so well. Scott Sickles has countless lovely pairings in his dramatic canon, but Bascom and Isaac of PUNCH BOWL make names for themselves with their specificity and charming tendency to over-share. I appreciate the craft that went into this play, from its character breakdown to its very last stage direction. If you're looking for neurodivergent rom-coms, this is a wonderful place to start.

I had the honor of being cast in a reading of Monarchs at the Valdez Theatre Conference, and I am in as much awe of it now as I was then. Full of culturally specific humor and heartbreak, Monarchs deftly balances the experimental with the familiar, weaving an epic and intimate tale across time and space. You will laugh, you will cry, and you may feel an overwhelming need to call your parents. Kudos to Danielle Frimer for creating this powerful, transcendent play!

There is a lovely intimacy and specificity to this play that enables Danielle Frimer's characters to leap off the page -- and even walk down the aisle of the theatre venue! Capturing the anxieties and specifically queer baggage surrounding weddings with trademark humor and heart, Frimer's "a marriage is a story we tell and keep telling" is a gorgeous, meta-theatrical treat. If you have a chance to see a reading or performance of this play, save the date!

A marvelous short work. Jillian Blevins aims "The Female Gaze" at the plight of one famous mythical woman scorned -- and one lesser known one -- to question the arbitrary cruelty directed at women not because of their actions but because of who they are. I love both how transportive and how modern this play feels, effortlessly navigating the fantastical and the divine with only occasional, though memorable anachronism ("Deus ex whatever").

Richly written, Ricardo Soltero-Brown's "A Little Lamb" is an engaging, gripping piece of theatre. This two-hander is a brain-bender for actors and audiences alike, bound to spark discussion and theorizing surrounding its subtly built world and ambiguous central relationship. Excellent!

"It was like a vice squeezing the culture out of us." In this compelling monologue, Christopher Soucy articulates a painfully common experience, of the way that racial oppression and its assimilationist imperative shapes and twists the experiences of so many, but particularly Asian people in America. The specificity of this monologue allows it to tug at the heart strings and elicit a quiet rage on behalf of its speaker. Powerful.

What a marvelous, hilarious short play DC Cathro has produced! I had the pleasure of seeing this play read at the Valdez Theatre Fringe this summer and the energy in the audience was electric. "Harry vs. James" is a play that demands strong comic timing from its actors, but the comedic rewards for the cast and the audience are considerable. Perfect for any short play festival!