Recommended by Greg Mandryk

I only wish Neil Radtke's TPoEESCaC would come in broomstick form so I could beat a few fellow playwrights (Not you. You're fine) about the head and body with it. As it is, I can only suggest people read it and ask themselves if maybe they've committed any of the crimes lampooned within.

Daniel Prillaman demonstrates why he’s NPX’s master of horror. YdnaM is a nice, effectively creepy monologue with bare-bones set requirements that anyone cobbling together an evening of short horror plays would do well to consider.

As Frankenstein, Pet Sematary, and countless other horror stories have taught us, it's best to let the dead stay dead. Counterpoint: Two, Four, Six, Eight, Who Do We Resuscitate?. Yes, Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend's one-act does ultimately arrive at the conclusion that it's best not to meddle with the dark arts, but it's a hell of a fun ride getting there!

Steven G. Martin hilariously lampoons the never-ending torrent of trivial nonsense we occupy ourselves with to drown out the horrific inequalities and injustices of modern society in this short play. This is social satire at its best!

What a frightfully inspired nod to Poe's Telltale Heart! A narrator whose sanity is hanging by a thread is maliciously haunted by either the ghost of his deceased mother or perhaps his own guilty conscience. Ken Love skillfully keeps you guessing as to what is truly transpiring outside of his character's fractured mind. I'd love to see a skilled actor take a crack at bringing this one to life onstage.

Kudos to Christopher Soucy for taking a problematic story prompt (Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho) and spinning it into gold. While elements from the classic movie remain, Soucy wisely gives them a more enlightened twist. Bravo!

This horror-flavored coming-of-age comedy is an absolute treat! The audience is waiting for Hookman. Hookman is waiting for an endearingly awkward couple to lose their virginity. A lot of stuff doesn't happen. But Lindsey and Jared are so charming, you'll love the wait.

What could make John Carpenter's The Thing even scarier? Acne. Jacquelyn Floyd-Priskorn's response to the PT horror prompt is an excellent tribute to a horror classic. Normally, I would say, "I'd love to see this staged!" But I don't know if I could handle the nightmares. Well done!

I love this so much more knowing it was written with Frankenstein as a prompt. Rather than a mere reinterpretation, Bethany Dickens Assaf cleverly uses Mary Shelley's classic as a springboard for something original and devilishly fun. For a theatre company that can handle a little special effects wizardry, this would be a hoot to produce.

I love the irony of this. A marketing director laments how, now that what was once a brilliantly conceived bit of counterculture has become expected and, for money reasons, compulsory, it feels just as culturally desolate as any overdone, cloying holiday play. Their suspicion that their production of Equus's success is partially owed to the town's lack of male strip clubs gave me a chuckle.