Recommended by Dan West

Appreciation of art matures over time as the beholder gains personal experience through repeated exposure and develops their contextual lens. In this terrific short play, Marj O'Neill-Butler explores (without preachiness or judgment) the dichotomy between the immature creative eye that relishes representative perfection vs the more experienced one that has learned or appreciate texture and expression. Tightly crafted and gently funny.

The time is coming. In penthouses and backrooms around the world, the power elite are running scared. The fixers have fixed everything they can; but they cannot hold off the inevitable forever. In this tautly dark and political ten-minute two-hander, Mathew Green presents an inside look at what one day of reckoning might look like. And what is terrifying to them might be a last beacon of hope for the rest of us. As timely as it is ruthless and sharp.

Abby has a seat on the deck of the Staten Island Ferry. Her own special and specific seat where she sits every morning. Until today, when Bennie gets there first. Through the course of the next ten minutes, Marj O'Neill-Butler takes us on a journey from dismay to disgust past negotiation (and many well earned laughs) all the way to...love? No, that would be to tidy. A fun and crafty, short two-(and a touch more)-hander,

Two couples sit at separate tables in a coffee shop. One relationship is (perhaps) just getting started. And the other (perhaps) coming to a close. Will the younger couple learn from the example displayed by their elders or will they follow the married pairs mistakes instead. And who will pay the heavy price for the evenings final cup of joe, as what begins as a light domestic comedy slowly and surely drifts towards it darkly rewarding resolution.

You know a play is something special when it leaves you both laughing and shedding tears of genuine grief over an inanimate bowl of ice cream. This short Steven G. Martin spoof of the police procedural drama is just such a play. Officers Beck and Bull have just ten minutes to get their “witness” to spill the beans on an international criminal conspiracy or else their opportunity beat the mob may melt away like yesterday’s sundae. A tautly crafted (and delightfully tasty) absurdist treat..

In the genre-busting “Priest Procedural”, two of the R.C.C.’s Finest play good cop/bad cop with a demon from the Stygian depths to save young girl’s soul. Greg Mandryk’s ear for stylistic dialogue and sharp sense of humor are put to good use in this relentless, farcical horror parody that barely gives the audience time to breathe between laughs. Who knew the unholy took their Java with almond milk? As original as it is funny.

Who creates monsters? We do, of course. Humanity. Society. Sometimes as grotesqueries. Sometimes in our own image. In “Monstrogenesis”, Georgia Xanthopoulou summons the mythic hybrid, the Minotaur, to challenge us directly as to why we as people need to invent such creatures. Is it really to explain that in the world which we do not understand? Or do perhaps we do it to defray the blame from our own monstrous natures? A true thought piece.

Be careful what you wish for. John so deeply misses his lost love Herb that we would do just about anything to bring him back. But when the opportunity arises, things do not turn out as planned; and John learns that just because you want something more than anything, that doesn’t make it right. There is a certain melancholy beauty to this short macabre two-hander that begs to be experienced. Love may conquer death, but should it?

In this intense, non-linear two-hander; a pair of dramatic stories unfold simultaneously. The first examines the origin and subsequent growth of a relationship between an aging man and his son-in-law; and the second, the turbulent life of an old-time gunslinger and the sons he trained to follow his violent footsteps. Both stories parallel as they explore themes or fidelity, honor, and betrayal to fantastic effect. A powerful elegy to intergenerational masculinity that pulls no punches.

Nobody’s perfect. Not even Santa. When the Jolly Old Elf is forced to backtrack his route to correct a delivery mix-up, he arrives just in time to be caught by one of the erroneous recipients. Will he be able to talk himself out of this jam before he falls victim to a brutal ladling? Will Susan and Doris receive their correctly assigned electronic devices. Is Dave from upstairs as big a creep as advertised? You will discover the answers to two of these questions in Morey Norkin’s wonderful short holiday play