Recommended by Ricardo Soltero-Brown

This is a fantastic short from Franky Gonzalez, in the straight-forward conversation found in these pages, a pair of sisters go through such pain, such longing, such fierce dreaming that one can't help but be astounded by Gonzalez's ability to mix comedy and tragedy; not to mention the issues of inmate psychology, stress, and separation. I'm impressed once again with Gonzalez's use of spare space and sparse dialogue. This would be an outstanding addition to the appropriate festival. Highly recommended.

A giggle-and-cuddle kind of play; presents every reason audiences should be allowed to put their feet up and bring a blanket. A play about worth and will. A classic tale of the hero-in-us-all and what we choose to define us, if anything, most of all our own take. A speech about what we do with our time, the beauty in what we see and that perhaps others don't, and the wonderful potential in everything; about what we want and then taking what comes with it. A fantastic addition to any evening of short works and/or one-person plays.

Wyndham having fun is a treat. Here's a woman who's become sure of herself through the act of being unsure of herself. It's a lovely round-about. She starts on about a time many of us, if not lived through, fantasized about, while still addressing Wyndham's consistent interests in economic, social, and terrestrial issues. It's what this playwright is particularly good at: disillusionment, empowerment. The engagement comes with how his characters deal with it. Each one is different. It's his gift. The minutia, the connectedness-of-it-all, individual experience. Each of his characters is an address of identity.

This monologue for a trans man is about a student on the edge - of society, economy, and apprehension. Fraught, but not frail. Asher Wyndham has created another gem of a character, unique and alive, whose voice you can hear and whose disposition you can read, eager to keep things shaking while trying to shake things off. It has a distinct effect, this aplomb met with stress. Wyndham's work is remarkable for its breadth of empathy, the scope of interactions. It's as if this playwright can pluck the modern soul right off the street and smooth it onto the page.

Interludes of passion inspire deep, critical, abstracted reflection, not quite subjective, not quite objective, because the process has you undergoing the journey all over again, and the couple in Gonzalez's 'Happy Together' do just that, simultaneously, however, as a remembrance, cataclysm, and presentation. Actress and actor are tasked with two roles each, one which they share, and the possibilities in performance coupled with the minimalist set design suggest a dark, haunting, hypnotic, mesmeric evening of pure, fundamental theatre. The story streams with such moments of mounting desperation, intensity, silence, tension, and vulnerability, that performers will have to give themselves over.

This is Gardner's serious, even ironic, take on the senselessness of current immigration policy and the crap ways authorities like to reframe political decisions, rephrase inhumane conditions and otherwise criminal treatment as something more palatable, more digestible.

Lee Lawing uses that quintessential contention with a particular kind of rhetoric to drive this charming, heartwarming, honest, impassioned catharsis between two annual inamoratos. People don't always know what will set their lover off, but when one is incensed with the other, you can bet it has something to do with an insecurity. This is a moving take on a genuine worry, experienced by so many; Lawing's accomplishment is having created a paced-to-boil purge with a compassionate approach to characters that reminds this reader of Robert Patrick, Craig Lucas, and Wendy Wasserstein. Hope as these men seek means and amends.

Weaver turns up the notch on his approach to, and investigations of, hopeless romanticism in this short, swift scene. It's an interesting juxtaposition regarding his other work, especially those for younger actors, and it allows him to consider that age-old question of whether or not we actually ever grow up at all. The fact that Xavier and Quentin are friends is a keen insight regarding male perceptions of growth and maturation. Rachel, on the other hand, has actually lived some life. The two men represent what happens when people have or haven't the ability to be self-aware of their progress.

One of the many accomplishments of this piece is the possibility for numerous interpretations, numerous presentations. The characters have a chip on their shoulders as if put there by Simon Gray. Actors will be tasked with nuance, subtlety, and subtext, with notes simmering and existential. This short might be one course, but it's a full meal. This language is not messing around and will ask the audience to sit and listen, to get sucked in. My favorite kind of work.

There is much to say about the meat and potatoes of this stew, the anxiety, the desperation; but the brilliance of this writer is embedded in the bookends of this monologue: a simultaneous hopelessness and daring-do. You've done this, I've done this. Franky Gonzalez writes your voice, my voice, the voice of a country aching and shaking. This work is no small feat; take your time with this piece, let yourself connect and hear. You'll find yourself listening to the pain of those we owe so much. Take this play and do as much good as it intended you to.