Recommended by Iyna Caruso

A tightly written monologue of what happens when ego tries to steer the ship. It’s sadly relatable and, fortunately for us, bitingly funny.

What starts off as an elegant beachside dinner party immediately launches into a wild and unexpected ride. Dialogue ricochets like beach balls among these characters with varying degrees of absurdity. “The island has changed me,” says one character in the ultimate understatement. “I’m more blunt now”—as though bluntness is the issue at hand for these couples washed ashore on a deserted island. Funny and inventive.

In Donald Baker’s two-hander, a homophobic sister says it’s possible to “love the sinner while hating the sin” referring to her gay brother, now on life support following an accident. And yet how is it love when you’ve broken off all ties and are only willing to reunite someday in the family’s cemetery plot? Thoughtful, poignant and, sadly, all too real.

The name of the play alone grabbed me. Brent Alles cycles us through the stages of grief and death’s messy aftermath. And just when you think the one-act is coming to a satisfying conclusion, he doubles down in this wholly original treatment of a difficult subject.

There are no sentimental goodbyes from a mother who lies on her deathbed, nor sentimental reunions when she is visited by the ghost of her late husband. The woman’s losses and disappointments come to the fore in Agnes Palfi’s UNWANTED LIVES and yet her final moments appear as a prelude to a hopeful beginning.

The act of gift-giving can be as joyful as receiving. Except if it’s the case of an ungrateful recipient in HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Michele Clarke manages to craft a fully realized character with just a few lines of dialogue and some subtle body language. The character may be off-putting, but Clarke’s ability to cut to the heart of the matter is impressive.

I read this with tears in my eyes. Raw, true and honest. Barry Wallace’s play is set in the most ordinary of places, a grocery store. But it becomes a minefield of memories for a grieving widower. The tears were for his disorienting loss and also for the kindness of a young store clerk who comforts him. This one will stick with me.

In A BAD PLAY, a struggling playwright asks the age-old question: “How do I make my big break happen?” The answer is a vision-clashing showdown pitting profitability against creativity and cynicism over hope. Brian Cern’s satire works so well because it hits so close to home.

This sweet and funny nostalgic trip of two school friends who cross paths after 60 years at a senior complex takes an unexpected turn as they recalibrate their assumptions about the people they’ve become. Youth is great but self-acceptance is the real prize. Well done.

I love this play about the other Franklin—Ben’s grandson, Temple--a teenager already asked to make sacrifices that could decide whether he leaves a legacy or fades away in obscurity. Alaina Tennant has crafted this little-known historical character with such skill, he’s never overshadowed by the two more pivotal and celebrated characters of the era, John Adams Marquis De Lafayette.