Recommended by Brent Alles

This was a thought provoking piece. Why do we sometimes experience "miraculous" healing? What do we think in terms of the conflict between "faith" and science? You have that exploration here, and it's an interesting little morality piece that develops. I think what I love the best is that at the end, Alice's final statement... it's not necessarily a promise... it may be a threat. It was an eerie way to leave the piece, and honestly, there was an eeriness throughout the whole thing that was hard to shake upon completion. Recommended!

A courageous and moving monologue. As intimated, perhaps one of the powerful things about :creating theater" is sometimes we can use the process to, if not "heal" ourselves, at least attempt to treat the wounds we have had inflicted upon us (sometimes by forces beyond one's control). This is a raw piece, to be sure, and I'm amazed the "character" of it has been able to find the hope and (partial?) peace that's indicated. I appreciate the honest writing here, and it's a sobering reminder that the holidays do indeed mean a range of emotions. They're all captured well here.

Really enjoyed this piece! I thought Williams really got the "voices" down pat for the likes of Reiner and Fields. (And I assume Beethoven, though I don't have television/film evidence to back that up. :) ) Good patter between all the characters in this amusing holiday dream. Definitely made me a little wistful as I was a big fan of Carl Reiner, and this piece made me miss him all over again. Fields was his usual irascible self as well and again, you have some great back and forth here between the characters. A good holiday read!

This was a great piece to read. The mythology that Bell creates draws you in, and there are still unique twists in a genre that is admittedly crowded. Brittany makes a great protagonist... someone you absolutely root for, and her friends are pretty great too. Gwendolyn makes an excellent villain... will love to see her musical pieces brought to life. The music samples are excellent... I was hoping that was the style Bell and his associates were going for, and I wasn't disappointed. Excited to see this produced at some point!

Oh man, the impact of that epilogue... Anyway, Taube does an effective job here of showing the struggles of an excon and the person trying to help him stay on the straight and narrow. Taube's flair for dialogue shines through in this piece, making it fully realized and definitely realistic. A sobering look at life after being "inside" and the temptations and dangers that await even when you're not behind bars any more.

This was a tremendous amount of whimsy. An effective modern update of the classic Nutcracker story with a lot of fun parts for actors to play. This would be great for youth theater, high school performances, etc. Loved the subtle allusions to the original story and the new wave take on the original elements. The rhyming parts were a lot of fun as well. I can just see audiences having a lot of Christmas enjoyment with this show, and isn't that what it's all about? This Nutcracker is definitely sweet, indeed.

A nice little piece of Christmas cheer! Although I sort of guessed where we were headed early on, it was still a moving journey and an effective little character study from the elements that were used. A good little piece of magic realism combined with a little bit of melancholy... isn't that the makeup of many good holiday stories? This is certainly another good holiday story in that vein, to be sure. Recommended!

Loved this piece. When Ms. Feeny-Williams established the premise, I was waiting for certain payoffs and was not disappointed. (Though one character's attitude on the Muppets certainly made for a VERY unsympathetic character immediately for this Muppets Lover. :) ) After some good back and forth, the ending is humorously satisfying. A very funny look at what makes a Christmas movie and why we'll probably never agree on that very subject. But it's OK... as this play's ending intimates, there is still hope. :)

The use of folklore and mythology is excellent here, and even though we've perhaps seen the tale of someone selling their soul for reward before, Zabel brings a fresh twist to it that keeps the reader/viewer engaged. There are rewarding parts here for actors to portray, and I would think a production of this would definitely be thrilling to watch. An effectively spooky little gem to read in the wee hours of the night.

A charming little piece. I enjoyed the physical comedy suggested in it and pretty much had a smile on my face through the whole thing. Definitely a nice little bit of Christmas cheer to read today.