Recommended by Daniel Smith

This is a fun exploration of commedia dell'arte style that would be a great teaching text! The lovers' sappy dialogue is hilarious, and there are amusing contemporary references (Mamma Mia, Beyonce) that capture the spirit of commedia while offering a fresh, feminist update. The calculating mother's change of heart after accidentally revealing her true motivations for standing in the way of Clarice's marriage to Leo is both humorous and touching.

I really enjoyed reading this! It's a fascinating open text that allows for all sorts of possibilities in performance, as two characters talk to each other and past each other while a writer listens and observes. I laughed out loud at the last line!

An accessible and engaging translation of a play that feels very timely, given its focus on labor and economics. The protagonist is dehumanized through his efforts to earn a living, ultimately accepting poverty. This would be a good choice for an evening of absurdist one-acts, allowing actors and designers to explore non-realism.

A very funny short play (16 pages) with absurdist vibes and witty wordplay reminiscent of classic sketch comedy routines like “Who’s on First?” As they wait in line for the restroom, five women (whose names conveniently start with A, B, C, D, and E) play a game that requires taking turns to list an animal for each letter of the alphabet. The game proceeds in fits and starts as they evaluate each other’s answers and question their category choices.

Jinkies! I loved this play. It's a queer riff on Scooby Doo that offers an inspiring take on the gang's origin story, steeped in cryptid lore with references to “The X-Files” and “Unsolved Mysteries.” There are exciting design challenges, including two tall puppets. The place names are really smart (Norville College, Roswell’s, The Jackalope), and the play combines camp humor with serious exploration of grief, trauma, anxiety, gender identity, and sexuality. The dramatic structure is clearly informed by the cartoon series, while ultimately breaking out of that formula to embrace the nuance and ambivalence of the interrobang symbol.

I saw the Know Theatre streaming production of this piece, and it has stuck with me for several years. A brilliant riff on “Beowulf” from the perspective of Grendel’s mother, here named Agathae. There’s a wonderful balance of humor and despair, with pessimism giving way to hope for collective action and the possibility of making different choices. Agathae’s cultural distance renders her a fascinating anthropological observer of the twenty-first century United States, with a shared meal and magical elements lending visceral immediacy.

A smart, tough play that delivers on tension and nuance, forcing audiences to confront their own complicity in inequity through a high-level workplace where serious abuse is masked under outward-facing DEI policies and liberal political activism. The dialogue offers double-edged quippy one-liners that riff on corporate self-help speak. The world of the play reminded me of many women-in-the workplace tropes, including films like All About Eve, Mommie Dearest, and The Devil Wears Prada. This was a great read that offers exciting (and scary!) potential in production.

A creepy and engaging short horror play that stages a documentary interview with the creator of an extreme immersive haunting experience billed as the "ghost pepper" of haunted houses. Stewart's toxic masculinity offers a toothsome role for an actor, and Milo's suspicious motivations make for an effective complement. As details about pain and torture inflicted on patrons emerge, it becomes clear that the true horror is a lack of consent.

This is a beautiful short play about climate grief, political polarization, and efforts at intergenerational communication. 19-year-old Molly attempts to convince her grandfather Mac, a 72-year-old glaciologist, to leave a melting glacier and return home with her. I appreciated the dramatic tension and the reversal as the audience would realize that Molly has been a climate change denier and her efforts to rescue Mac are as doomed as his prior attempts to wake her up to the realities of climate science. A very original and moving piece!

I heard about this play before I read it, from someone who found the MATC workshop reading very moving. It was a great read, and I would love to see it staged! The play begins with a breakup and ends with a new platonic supportive relationship forming as two women attempt to heal from their experiences of domestic violence by sharing an excellent crab bisque. Along the way, an abuser is revealed to be a zombie and characters interact with nature as all await a volcanic eruption.