Recommended by Larry Rinkel

  • MJX
    28 Jul. 2022
    Vibrant, well-crafted dialogue distinguishes this short play from D.C. Cathro - which you may feel is largely another age-old debate on whether an artist's personal life should color our perception of their art. That is until the ending, which puts a whole new spin on the dialogue and causes you to rethink whatever you thought you just heard. Another solid piece from Mr. Cathro here.
  • Human Aggression #12 and 35
    27 Jul. 2022
    An intense, Kafkaesque portrait of a man subjected to brutality and aggression from a "social engineer," and then blames for aggression by the very people attacking him. The last line is particularly effective. Caution if you produce this short piece: there is a lot of violence which you'll have to consider.
  • Burying Elephants (15 min.)
    27 Jul. 2022
    Compelling, taut, even aggressive dialogue dominates this well-crafted short play about two female lovers, one of whom (Colby) insists on breaking off their affair when she finds herself pregnant by her husband. But even though Colby asks Jennifer for one last night together, there are hints throughout (one likes Puccini, the other jazz; one eats meat, the other doesn't) that the relationship may not survive in any case.
  • The Morning After (Ten Minute)
    27 Jul. 2022
    You of course have to know Albee's "Virginia Woolf" (and who among theatrical folk doesn't) to get the premise of this farcical little play, which turns the original on its end by telling us that George and Martha had a kid after all. And this kid might as well be the wholesome, cheerful young man from Albee's "Sandbox" or "American Dream." Having established his premise, Paul Donnelly throws caution to the winds as he piles twist upon twist in truly Albeeian, absurdist fashion. This piece should be great fun for audiences to see, and for actors to act.
  • Trayf
    26 Jul. 2022
    Read this, or better yet, perform this zippy little short, and have fun. Be sure to watch the page numbers on the PDF to keep your place. Lucy Wang has an unerring ear for dialogue, and there are little bits of Chinese sprinkled in too, since one of the characters (Ruth) is an honorary Chinese Jew. Great fun, and a big shei-shei to Lucy Wang for writing it.
  • Free! Powerful Muscles Fast!
    26 Jul. 2022
    Before the golden age of Internet porn, all that horny teenage boys had to look at were action heroes in comic books (or if you were lucky, a lifeguard like Jerry flashing in the shower). Philip's monologue expertly points out all the ironies in our constant obsession with bodies and muscles, and while the narrator tells us that "just because you can save the world doesn’t mean you have to look like you can," we know perfectly well he still wishes he could.
  • Moonbow Bride
    26 Jul. 2022
    Wonderfully enigmatic, with a great sense of atmosphere and quietly creepy dialogue. An excellent short ghost or horror play from Mr. Tacon, well worth incorporating in any Halloween-based (or other) short play festival. Bravo.
  • Afterall (or The Wonderwall Play) (One-Act Version)
    26 Jul. 2022
    Poor Adam! his dad just died, he's having girlfriend problems, and worse yet he has all these imaginary "friends" who don't want him to take his meds for depression. But fortunately the ghost of Adam's dead father comes back to help him pull through. There is a nice balance of reality and illusion in this charming short play, which ends on a note of cautious optimism as Adam finally realizes his "friends" are really not his friends, and the girl he loves is still there to help him get through it all.
  • Fences
    24 Jul. 2022
    What seems to be a sweet, tentatively developing relationship between a somewhat rough teenage boy and a very proper home-schooled teenage girl seems to reach a breaking point when it is suggested that the girl has been beaten by her over-protective, violent father. But the ending of this cleverly designed short introduces a twist that casts doubt on all the earlier proceedings. I won't spoil the ending here, but it will leave you wondering about all you have been seeing. Good work, Rachel Feeny-Williams.
  • NO TWO SNOWFLAKES (one-act)
    19 Jul. 2022
    Although described by its author as "dark comedy and horror," the overall tone here is charming and light in this deftly realized spoof of a precocious young scientist, her clueless mother, and Big Brother from the Canadian government. Why Canada? well, you need a supercold environment for Veronica's possibly unintentional experiments to work. You can't help rooting for young Veronica in this short piece, which I saw well-produced at the Secret Theatre in Queens, NY, July 18, 2022.

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