Recommended by Emmet L.F. Cameron

It’s always a bit surprising when you learn something real about somebody on a customer service call, whichever side of the equation you’re on. & so much more unusual to find out what really motivates the person on the other side & leverage that to your advantage. A tight ten that works great as an audio play, shoutout to Theatrical Shenanigans.

The audio version of this play on the Premiere the Play podcast is excellent, & as the playwright says in their wonderful interview about the show, «It’s not radical.» At the same time, I love that these two women do not choose to create a family together because it’s easy or because they have a complete lack of friction, but because there is security in their track record of showing up for each other, lovingly questioning each other’s choices, misjudging, & changing course as life unfolds.

I have just listened to the audio version of this play on the Premiere the Play podcast from 2023, & it's wonderful to learn that it has had so many well-deserved development opportunities & accolades. John Minigan is a keen observer of the most complex & fragile human dynamics, especially where larger power structures are enacted at the level of personal & professional relationships. So many people need this play, particularly those who've been in the trenches with brilliant & unreliable minds.

I've always said, if you want to get to know somebody, take them to an art museum, & this play proves it 6-fold in 10 minutes.

The conversations you rehearse the most never go how you expect. This is a beautiful moment of two people who love each other acknowledging something that can't remain secret for each of them to thrive in their relationship going forward. A stellar example of how there is still drama & tension in getting these big moments in our lives *right*, as much as there is when we fail each other.

A gem of a one-act that tells so much about a family through the story of one questionable father-son business venture. The audio version on the Youngblood Monday Lunch podcast is great, it would also sparkle on the stage or as a short film.

There's a lot of twists & and turns lot of fun in this short, & a lot of room to play for both the actors & the production team. A fun spin on a "meet the parents" plot.

A crushing & crucial indictment of our current age, projected onto every possible future.

This is a cut above the average short for teen actors, & will be relatable to cast & audience alike. No matter our age or identity, we’ve all felt like we were cast in a script we didn’t agree with at some point in our life, & Martineau plays that concept out with comedic & surreal panache, without losing the heart & reality of the characters’ experience.

I just listened to this play on the Sell Yourself Short podcast, & I am hooked! This piece is such a poignant example of how speculative fiction can tie our current experiences of grief & loneliness to the grief & loneliness of hypothetical future people. It is as close as we get to holding space with our descendants…in space. So happy to learn that there is more of these characters & this universe to discover.