Recommended by Greg Mandryk

The seven sections of TARTARUS can work independently as self-contained plays, but don't cheat yourself. Scott Sickles's mastery is on display here as he crafts a horrifying tale of twisted evil and lost innocence. That his villain's mindset is a reflection of real-world bigotry lends this work a chilling edge that will stay with you long after the lights come up.

There’s a certain amount of lag in zombie stories between the time the audience has figured out the undead apocalypse is happening and the characters do. Busser mines this for comic gold by introducing us to a trio of hapless survivors (for now) who are way, way behind the curve on flesh-eating ghoul awareness.

Charles Scott Jones captures the uncertainty and awkwardness of waking up in bed with a stranger after a one-night stand. Now that you see your late-night romance in the sobering morning light, should you get breakfast together or file for a restraining order? A cryptic text message from a friend adds to the confusion. Will there be coffee? Should he just put his pants on and leave? What the hell does "POD" mean? You'll have fun finding out.

I would love to see this performed for an audience and watch as each member has their own, individual moment of “Ah! I get it now!”

I’m embarrassed to admit it took until the second to last paragraph for me to have mine.

And now I have that song in my head.

Here’s a fun bit of schadenfreude. Three unlucky exterminators face the challenge of their careers. Sanity gets tested. Hilarity ensues.

This is adorable. Anyone putting together an evening of short plays for young audiences would do well to consider The Monster by Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn.

Well, this is perfectly charming with a twist ending I didn’t see coming. (Hint: don’t read the subject keywords.)

This is funny as hell and real enough to trigger your PTSD if you’re a veteran of community theater.

It's a romantic comedy that decides it doesn't really want to be a romantic comedy, rebels, and reinvents itself as crime thriller parody, and I was totally okay with that. Definitely a fun read.

The Mount Pleasant Baking Competition is a strange game. The only winning recipe is not to play.

There's definitely a message here in this delightful short comedy. Perhaps it's that you should be careful what hoops you jump through on your path to glory. Sometimes, the only prize for acting like an idiot is getting to look like an idiot. Or, at least, that's what I got out of it. Apart from its worth as a satire, Don't Touch the Carrot Cake is brimming with humor and wit and would be a solid standout in an evening of comedic one-acts.