Recommended by Dan West

In the waxing hours of dawn, a lone man lies in bed, pondering. About life, about his dead mother, about the insects eating his flesh, and about green soap. Georgia Xanthopoulou invites us to peak into the brain of an individual whose racing mind cannot be settled and whose soul is so stained by memory that even the strongest of solvents may not sterilize it. A captivating mood piece.

What a fun interactive play. A former high school nerd, a peppy class president, a varsity bully, and a music superstar discover at their class reunion that their school is being torn down; and they engage the audience to join in and participate in their efforts to save it. This unconventional (dare I say zany) one act play is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Last call comes for us all. Sometimes we are ready for it. Sometimes we are not. In Julie Brandon’s ten minute winner, “The Corner Bar”, the denizens of Phil and Marge’s local pub meet a mysterious stranger and come to understand that this closing time could very well be their last. And fun premise, delightfully executed.

A touching allegorical fable about self-absorbtion, growth, and how parenthood (welcome or not) can change one’s very soul. Fisher is unable to think of others until they meet an equally avaricious Ocean God, who sets for them what both assume to be a near impossible challenge - to nurture rather than take. But in the end will the lesson be about how to love another or will everything end in loss. Raya Tuffaha has crafted a profound and insightful 10-minute play that hits on both the mythical and personal levels.

Three Rachels, trapped in a liminal space and left to figure out how they got here. And why are they surround by all of this noise? And a bell that seems to reset their world roughly once a page? William Meurer’s “The Revenge Play” is too smart to spoon-feed us any easy answers, but the astute audience will feel rewarded with the opportunities provided to jump to their own conclusions. A finely crafted and intriguing short play.

Gun violence impacts everyone in America. Whether directly, due to the loss of someone we know; or, indirectly, through a general feeling of personal vulnerability and peril. Benjamin V. Marshall has crafted a hard hitting and thought provoking examination of how our cultural infatuation with firearms self-perpetuates, leading even the most sensitive of souls down a pathway towards trauma and devastation. This is a highly impactful and affecting play.

Competition can get tough at acting camp. Riley and Carmella are cabinmates; but they are also, in their own minds, stars in waiting - and only one can be the lead. Not since All About Eve has the ruthlessness of show biz been such monstrous fun. A delightful and tightly crafted short play.

Gun Free School Zone? Not hardly. Jeff Redman invites us to accompany him to prom in a Free Gun School Zone in this witty and insightful short play. A delightfully scary and (hopefully not) prescient look at high school according to the NRA’s vision of America.

Things are changing at Sterling Industries. Some may benefit and others not. An overheard conversation in the executive washroom may change the fates of all involved, if Richard Sterling has the courage to let it. This tautly written short play by Tom Erb perfectly captures our current era’s corporate zeitgeist.

In this short two-hander, two adult sister eat soft ice cream and reflect on where they are in life and how they got there. As Ava seeks the energy to put her life back together after a terrible fall, Katy looks for ways to draw her younger sibling out of her malaise by invoking the creative instincts they once shared. Kate McGrath’s exemplary writing rings true with feelings of regret and melancholy mixed with a hope for the future.