Recommended by Dan West

Three ambitious drag queens convene at the funeral of their iconic mentor to determine which up them shall be chosen to don her mantle and continue her legacy. As each of the trio battle to state their case and to achieve dominance and supremacy over there rivals, they all seem to forget that they are not the only ones in the room. And when things start to get a bit meta, all bets are off. A flamboyantly campy and downright funny short play.

It’s not easy shopping for just the right hat. Especially when it is cold outside and one deserves the very best. In Liam Happe’s absurdist satire “The Hat”, a shopper is search of just the right lid finds that their available options bring little more than increasing pain and misery. And the sales person, though seeming well intentioned (or not), offers little in the way of relief or succor. A darkly engaging short comedy.

Abstract/non-representative art is not for everyone. It forces you to draw meaning from shape and color rather than form. When college student Paige finds herself locked in her university's gallery afterhours with a man who appears to be far outside of his natural habitat, her first inclination is to try to help him "understand" what he seems to be missing - only to discover that some are searching for answers that lie beyond acrylic on canvas. A gently profound short play about regret and loss.

A studiously researched and precisely written short historical drama about the impact of the lumbering industry on the Michigan wildfires of the mid to late 19th-Century. Focusing on a female environmental scientist who tried to warn her community of the pending dangers only to be rebuffed, this story presages the warnings of modern climate scientists and activists in our modern era. Definitely a worthy and insightful read.

Jo/Joe wakes up from a night of overindulgence excess to find himself in a hospital room (or some such other undefined institutional space) with his only company a large AI powered mainframe computer that seems unable (or unwilling) to get its story straight. Elizabeth Hawkins pays tribute to such diverse source as Kubrick and Chekhov in this hilariously Kafkaesque takedown of mid-2020s LLMs.

An ailing man sits alone “on the edge” of his hospital bed. He has a decision to make. And it is not the first time in his life that he has been asked to make it. As a voice from the other side guides him through the grieving process to a potentially final destination, Adam must evaluate the value of a good life lived against the unpromised one yet to come. Rich and Dorothea Helms have done a superlative job crafting this short play that walks the narrow balance between poignant and sentimental without ever taking a false step.

There is drama in the barnyard as four aging hens find their status in the coop challenged by a quartet on younger biddies. With talon-sharp dialogue and rustic humor, this short farm-bound comedy about aging, obsolescence, and how we treat our elders is not afraid to ruffle a few feathers.

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Recently diplomaed Dr. Smith, Ph.D., and his wife have reason to celebrate; but she brings her own agenda to the picnic too. As the couple struggles to convey their thoughts in anything beyond the most timeworn platitudes and cliches, the audience is left to wonder how meaning can be articulated when authenticity becomes impossible. A sly and discerning play about the emptiness of words.

What if Peter Pan and crew get booted from their Neverland home (due to redevelopment) and end up landing in the croc infested Florida Everglades. This is the age old question being asked in Barry Wallace’s short reimagining of the J.M. Barrie classic. Peter and Wendy (and their new ally Smee) try to cope with a bold new world of swamps and spy planes, only to find their true (new/old) nemesis when Zombie Captain Hook arrives. A uniquely fun short play.

Two lonely souls meet in the lobby of a lawyer’s office. One of them is running late. The other is possessed by demons…or ghosts…or something. (It sort of runs it the family). Will this mismatched pair find their middle ground? Will Lenny allow Edwina to proceed to her scheduled meeting with his boss? Will the audience howl with laughter watching them work it all out? They answer to that last one is, “Yes, most definitely.”