Recommended by Ricardo Soltero-Brown

Hageman's TYA play takes a hard look at the roles adults play in the development of children, the shifts in attitude, the changes in various dynamics, the stifling of genuine expression, and the fragility of every type of connection. It also looks at the relationships children/teenagers have with their peers, and what home brings to the exchanges. The play is filled with infuriating miscommunications occurring simply because of overly-defensive stances, and it works as a lesson in listening; Lucy takes this part and shows us - not just teenagers, but - what we are all capable of with kindness.

This was workshopped at Horizon Theatre Company and introduced Liz Dooley's knack for awkward, sensitive characters who are trying to evolve their sense of worth. Dooley's characters are always working on what they're saying as they're saying it and it is both tragic and comic. This play has a twist ending that also serves as a reveal about the character Josephine herself.

I saw this performed at Horizon Theatre Company when Liz Dooley was a playwright apprentice there - under mentor Addae Afura Moon - and the audience was awash with laughter. A clever, slow-burner, fast-talking comedy.

One of Wyndham's most poignant abilities is sad humor. There's a tricky mix of giggle and sorrow that he creates just perfectly. Here a drunk veteran bulldozes his way into finding somebody to buy his house (including audience members) which he can no longer afford the mortgage on. He uses a plethora of tactics, many which backfire, some that catch himself off guard. The biggest problems are the ones he doesn't understand: his mental state and USA's abandonment. He references events which led him here and it's clear there's a lack of help that he needs, that many veterans need.

A resplendent language fills a forbidding tale of past performances primed for the present, ready to collect on their dues. McBurnette-Andronicus does a phenomenal job of transporting us to a world now recherché with archaic practices and arcane behaviors, it is a mystery from the get-go - with some unexpected, most welcome one-liners. We are lured in by a cat lady who is much defensive in her exchanges, one reason is her mental state. Tokens throughout hold sinister significance and soon it's as if the mansion itself is unstable, the walls bound to cave in at any moment. Highly theatrical!

Gonzalez uses a reverse chronology to yield and wield the ripest effects of secrets, friendships, and betrayals. The tension is quiet and still, and yet the play moves. Even though it goes backwards, we witness the disintegration of relationships troubled by auditions and abortion, money and marriage, faithfulness and (in)fidelity. Gonzalez makes mention of a popular play that clearly has influence upon his story - and his script serves as a fine sibling, not just in structure; it even has the waiter! - and he concocts a playground for actors to use their chops in nuance, disdain, and disappointment.

Greg Burdick combines the characters of music greats lost too soon and a fictional bassist who they've been waiting on way too long to investigate themes of artistic disappointment, the price of fame, spooky coincidences, and the burning sensation to create. Filled with great in-jokes and battling personalities, 'Room 27' is as much a meditation on what to do with your life as it is a rollicking comedy of manners, seeing as the conversation is fueled by macabre humor. This plethora of temperaments makes all kinds of commentary on the music industry and being, topped with a great ending.

Asher Wyndham writes a well-meaning, at-his-ends father who goes out of his way to keep his son happy, and from being bullied. It's a surprise when he reveals the cause if his money troubles, and we realize how many parents are fighting this fight. One of Wyndham's most lovable characters, an animated piece for an actor with high, positive energy. Another winner from Wyndham.

Stubbles gives us a cast of mysterious characters in a mid-twentieth century bar in South West Africa, colonized by Germans. A moping drinker deals with a nostalgic song, a cooky bartender, then a lone woman who knows more about him than is comfortable, and the loss of his fatherland - as Germany has lost the war. A moody, smoky atmosphere would take us right into the type of cinema of its day. Matters become relevant to current affairs when the subject of Nazis, sympathizers, refugees and more are discussed before a reckoning that comes, yes, right out of the past.

The time and place of Scott Sickles 'Orchids and Heat' sets up an ethereal exchange between a train engineer, conductor, and wife of a man who just died off the train. The moon and shock can lead to all kinds of confessions, here creating a moody piece about loss and abstraction. Sickles does an incredible job getting into the skin of all his characters and times everything just right.