Recommended by Christian Flynn

Elise Wien is that kind of dark comic playwright that you don't find very often. She's found a unique way to present multi-media theatre and to create a sort of over-the-top darkness that tilts into hilarity. Greb, in particular, is one of the funniest characters I've read in a while. Who are these monsters that we're working for?

A play of intense humanity and tension. One that's just as comfortable keeping you on the edge of your seat as it is allowing you to sit with its characters in a diner and hang out. Too often we look to the squabbles between politicians, celebrities, news anchors, to understand our politic landscape. This play returns us to the soil — to one of the most overlooked bastions of the working class, the truckers. How are we supposed to overcome our differences when we're not being paid enough, forced to drive all night... better pull over before something happens.

The play opens with a long scene about the horrors of domesticity; not through discovering some kind of seedy surreal underbelly like in a Lynch film, but in staring the domestic promise straight in the face. Talk about sexual politics gives way to discussing horrors seen on the news.

This is not life.

The second half of this play is a painfully real examination of the intersection between leftist infighting and relationship issues.

Somewhere between this: a monologue about the sexual conquests of a mythical "Bill" who wrote the story of Jesus —  a serious highlight for me.

Strongly recommend.

Funny. Scary. We all love Shakespeare, but we have to remember that he can hurt. The cannon can be cute but the cannon can be painful. Blevins' play would be great to put up alongside Measure for Measure, or in dialogue with Shakespeare. Many productions of his works re-cast his characters, make it newly relevant, set in a new world. But what do you do when the problem is baked into the subject of the play? This play is short, but it's a lot to think about.

A stroke of true artistic power is tying Kevin's manipulation to capitalism — a sort of masculinization, and sexualization of the urge to accrue vast amounts of wealth. Another is that Kevin doesn't make problematic and offensive jokes — he purposefully avoids them to present himself as squeaky clean as possible. The fact that this guy's favorite band is Weezer lets you know that Kelsey Sullivan just fucking gets it. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, a spider appears and starts spitting "Worm Teeth" era bars. Sullivan is one of the biggest risk-takers I've read on here.

Like a Gen Z Beckett play. Not just in the woman-is-half-stuck-underground-ness of it, but in the direction "VAL gets a reply, unheart" as well. A piece of modernism for the 21st century. What does it mean to be stuck? Are we stuck as a culture?

This play begs the question "what the fuck is a bone play?" — then answers it almost instantly, because Sullivan writes straight not to the heart or mind but straight down to the bones. Has the sort of feral, child-like, slightly-off nature of the first Don't Hug Me I'm Scared video. At times dark, and at times sweet — too sweet, sickeningly sweet, tooth-hurtingly sweet. Enough cutesy rhymes to make you heave. A play about teeth — biting, life-giving, ripping, crushing, bloody, teeth.

"We offer you this body, sacred and dry, with glistening fangs that could make grown men
cry."

This is what we go to the theatre for! Genuinely upsetting. Would be a fantastic piece to have an audience react to. Like a horror movie. A fantastic work of physical, visceral, ALIVE theatre. But don't let it fool you, it's not just a shock-piece; Sullivan's words are delivered masterfully as well. Just look at the pacing, the subtle repetitions, the laser-sharp dialogue. She's taken certain meme dialogue tropes and thrown them straight at the reader's face. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Produce it.

The rare plot-driven play! For going for this, Ky Weeks if far braver than I. A heroes journey — but one that feels less like setting off on some crazy LOTR quest and more like going down an internet rabbit hole. Paratora's big monologue is a stand-out — a poeticization of stream-speak. Plays with the idea of being "native" to the internet — something this Gen Z writer appreciates. Would be great to perform at schools.

How much power have we ceded to not only those with vast amounts of wealth — but those with the skills to acquire it? If you buy neoliberal capitalism's narrative, we're just letting the most competent people take charge. But Vermillion's play lets no one off the hook — often the mechanisms to gain capital are completely against safety, logic, reason, and morality. Find shelter, there's a storm coming.