Recommended by Brian James Polak

This is a wonderfully theatrical and beautifully written play. It was a joy to read and WILL BE a joy to see produced because that needs to happen... you hear me theaters of the world?!

HYANNIS marks a dark and challenging time in American culture and does so with an ensemble of hopeful characters who all made my heart ache. This is a play that belongs on stages and anthologies and should go down in history with the other great American plays that shows us who we are and what our families and neighbors are struggling with. Teachers: teach this play not just as a great example of form and structure, but also as history so future generations can understand this time and place better.

This is a beautiful play dealing with the theme of family in a riveting way. Cooper shows us the entanglements of families dealing with loss, and the complications that inevitably come with couples and marriages that don't follow tradition. What I appreciate most is how he allows his characters room to make mistakes and do/say terrible things, while maintaining a sense of empathy for them; ultimately telling a story of people finding the good in those who can't quite see it in themselves.

Spenser Davis masterfully crafted a piece of theatre for the online medium. This is not a play that is forced into a Zoom, but a play specifically created to be experienced in this way. It is something that feels like a play, film, documentary, and VR experience all in one.

This is a brilliant and powerful play. Villanueva took me inside these complex characters with great skill. This is the type of play, like Sarah DeLappe's The Wolves or Ruby Rae Spiegel's Dry Land, that shows young audiences themselves on stage with recognizable characters, but also gives a pathway for older audiences to engage with, and understand, younger people better.

WORKPLACE is a smartly written gut-wrenching play dramatizing the challenges women face in the workplace when the double standards of duplicitous managers conspire against you. I love the structure of this play as it brilliantly challenged my assumptions with a shifting the point-of-view. This play reminds us that we are the only advocate we can count on when HR stands to support a corrupt organization. This is a great play by an excellent playwright who will no doubt land on many Lit Managers' and Artistic Directors' radars very soon.

This brilliant and moving play has etched a permanent spot in my mind. So much of this piece is unique: it's form and style, it's autobiographical nature, the way it explores family history... I am both moved emotionally and inspired artistically by this play. Stolowitz, through the telling of her own specific story, has crafted a wonderful and universal narrative.

Recent Unsettling Events is so many things, but first and foremast it is brilliant. Stolowitz demonstrates the complexities of life on a college campus from student to professor to administrator in a way that makes clear nothing is clear. Students fight admirably for agency in their education as professors do their best to please the school and the students while remaining steadfast in their own intellectual pursuits. There are no easy answers and this play leaves you with a great deal to think about when it is over, which is all I want in a play.

This Much I Know is at turns wildly theatrical and deeply emotional. I love the way it explores the interconnectedness of both people and time with moment after moment and character after character fluidly changing before our eyes. I finished the play feeling like I learned a great deal about plays, history, and myself. It's a highly engaging read and I imagine it would make for an exhilarating production.

Welcome to Matteson! is a play that belongs in anthologies marking our nation's history. It belongs on our stages as much as in our schools. It is incredibly funny, complex, and real. Inda Craig-Galvan's genius is in the way she pries open every character revealing their heart and soul. Nothing is simple in this play, but it's all feels honest and that's why it's so good.