Recommended by Brian James Polak

We are living in a period of time dominated by massive amounts of information coming at us from every direction. This play synthesizes into a narrative the story behind an organization like Cambridge Analytica, which has allowed various groups to weaponize information. It is the story of a great idea coopted for nefarious deeds. "Disinformation" is a fantastic time capsule for this era of social media propaganda and an excellent way to engage audiences on an important issue.

Great play by a great person and playwright. I love the characters in the story and feel deeply for them. It's a fantastic and surreal play about growing up and all the joys and tragedies that can follow kids on the South side of Philly.

I saw a reading of this play at the NNPN showcase in December 2018. This play is so funny, emotional, and genius in the way it weaves a satirical narrative about the world of the past, present, and future. Rastus and Hattie are two of the most fascinating characters I have seen in a play in a very long time.

I saw "The Worst Mother in the World" produced by Halcyon in Chicago. This play shows the anxiety of parenthood in ways I've never seen before. It's rare that a play gets me feeling the feelings of the characters, but I felt unbelievably anxious for these mothers. Neither being a parent nor being a child is always easy, and in this play we get to see that yearning to be better, but feeling incapable of changing. Kari Bentley-Quinn shows us the complexity of real life and avoids any cliche trappings of parent/child relationships. It's a smart and powerful play.

I love this play about the changing world around us and how those changes are experienced by a person at the intersection of childhood and adulthood. Caridad is a stage poet and Red Bike has a huge amount of heart and plenty of humor. Just like life, it is full of races down steep hills, confusion, joy, and wonder.

What goes through your mind in the final moments of your life? Who do you want around as the world comes to an end? Minutes and Seconds takes us to an apocalyptic brink that is equal parts funny and bleak. I laughed a great deal... at moments because the writing was so on point, but also out of distress for thinking what I would say to the people I loved if I knew the end of the world was only moments away. Vanderark clearly has a knack for intertwining tension and humor in order to create this highly theatrical play.

Fun, funny, and head-spinning... this play has me considering the trajectory our culture is on with relationship to technology. Siri, Google, Alexa, etc. all aim to improve our lives in various ways, and this play explores what that might look like down the road. To me it's not that pretty (I mean the imagined future, not the play which is aesthetically brilliant). What this play dramatizes has me worried about humanity losing one thing that makes us human, which is the authentic interpersonal relationships with each other.

This play.... oh man. It is just so so good. I attended a reading of it and was unbelievably taken by its humor, heart, and humanity. This is a stunning play about art, vulnerability, and taking that first step toward healing wounds that seem as if they were destined to remain with us forever.

This is a rad play with rad songs. I love the excavation of the punk mentality from the late 1970s and extrapolating those ideals into the present day. This play portrays deep and complicated characters who are not like me, but are just like me. Life is hard, we all have dreams, some people achieve them, others get close, but in the end we are all confronted by mortality and the realization of what matters most in life.

Second Skin is dark and light and lyrical and raw. The dramaturgy, structure, and tone break the norms theater-goers tend to see, and they are three reasons why I love this play so much.