Recommended by Leah Plante-Wiener

Gorgeous, brutal, haunting. Ele has a profound talent for deploying language as both weapon of seduction and knife-sharp destruction. The realm of Rose of The World is an intoxicating one where the walls listen a little too close; where we are at the mercy of ambition, paranoia, envy, hunger, and every ghost you could imagine, but where the unsaid rules as most violent. Karina— whose introduction is unforgettable— is a masterclass in self-destruction. This is a play that lingers, in all of its ravaged beauty and ghoulishness.

Sharp, mean, sizzling, but ultimately comforting in its shit-that’s-so-me familiarity, Everyone in New York is Beautiful is a biting reminder that we’re all a little more scared than we give each other credit for. Flynn has a gift for weaving together unique characters with intimately recognizable idiosyncrasies (the edgy leftist podcaster flailing for attention, the ex-Christian desperate for a new identity, the aimless intern) while still surprising us with the ways in which they hurt each other and themselves. I’m in need of more twentysomething living room plays like this.

If the itch inside your brain were a play, this would be it.

SO GOOD. McIntosh has built a thought-provoking puzzle of ethics that reveals layer after layer of uncomfortable hypotheticals. Offers an abundance of opportunity for discussion on A.I. and our reliance on technology, consent, motherhood and its expectations, teenage sexuality, patriotism, and the human urge to assign emotion to anything that may look like us. Soo yummy.

Such a great time. Sullivan's characters exist at the daring intersection between the micro-relatable and the frighteningly, grotesquely unpalatable, and Sullivan knows just how to make this strange world her own. I'm in love with the heightened-yet-banal realm that's been sculpted here. A lovely challenge for SFX artists!

A dryly funny but ultimately heartbreaking plunge into the rabbit hole of a head-spinning "what if". Mindell is a sharp, smart writer who writes from deep in the gut, and I am forever grateful that he is. Shoutout to Margot for being such an icon.

Had a breakthrough about my own past relationships because of this one. Thanks, Megan :)

I love this play so so much. Will never not be thinking about hermits duking it out over who loves God more.

A sister play of all time. The relationships between the three of them are so strongly written. Schillage has such an ear for the strange and deliciously unpalatable.

A wondrous, big-hearted, hysterical piece. Simon has an incredible imagination. A play about climate change written with urgency, empathy, and deeply relatable angst. Long live the Dead Horse!