Recommended by Dan West

When elderly sisters Mabel and Alice get in deep with the local loan shark, they must rally their pensioner friends to help them come up with the necessary 10,000 quid by Monday. Their reckless schemes and outrageous machinations are downright hysterical. And the third-wall breaking mob enforcer, Dirty Dave, takes this dark farce completely over the top for me. Truly, this may well be the funniest play that I’ve read on this platform all year.

Urban exploration of abandoned buildings seems like it would be such fun, doesn’t it? Nick and Kara thought so too, until - to their growing horror - they learn that it is not ghosts that haunt this space, but a temporal paradox. Can they break the endless cycle of repetition? And who are those eyes that are watching them so intently? This creepy and tightly crafted meta-theatrical two-handed is sure to enthrall any audience- captive or not.

Public apologies in the YouTube/TikTok era have become increasingly elaborate rites. And in this 10-minute immersive holiday satire, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer goes the practice one better by commandeering an entire theater class in order to make his performative amends for a past transgression. Clever, witty, and fun can only begin to describe this creative seasonal take on our traditional Yuletide fair.

A musical spectacle with all the grandeur of the French Revolution. Maximilian Robespierre is brought back from the dead and set loose to clean up modern Washington D.C. and, before you know it, he and his Committee for Public Safety are running their very own Reign of Terror (and Song). Heads aren't the only things that will be rolling in the aisles.

In Caleb McCarrol’s “Two People With Autism In the Rain”, the title certainly does describe the action; but that play itself is so much more than just that descriptor. It is a play about sensation and liberation and new experiences and the feeling of loss embedded in any and all partings. The rain may bring wetness and discomfort, but it also washes pretense and allows truths to be revealed. An eye opening short play.

A terrific historical drama about a group of five female pilots who served in the WWII era WASP program and the struggles they faced in gaining recognition for their service. As the young, eager, and committed heroines of War Era Act One grow into the more jaded, mature, and largely forgotten women of 1974; we can feel the pain of their heartache and frustration as they work to reconcile their shared history with a world that refuses to acknowledge it. A powerful play about a subject that will elucidate its audience as it entertains them.

Three close friends pass around the pieces of a French maids outfit as the converse in the kitchen about everything from community meetings to marriage to mourning to breakfast meat (and more). But it is really the rich, naturalistic dialogue and the feelings of kinship and shared connection between the characters that make this short intimate three-hander such a winner.

At some point in the near future - after the bees are gone - a grandmother and grandchild work to rebuild a relationship they never had; acknowledging their differences and reconciling their similarities all while attempting to avoid the fact that time is running out on all of us. Aly Kantor was crafted a touchingly funny and all to human drama of real complexity and depth that works on many different levels. A stunningly written neo-dystopian two-hander.

Dr. Diogenes Hart is a man of accomplishment, purpose, and standing; until he discovers that he has lost his astrological sign and the cosmic destiny that comes along with it. What follows is a surreal and wildly funny metaphysical quest to fill the hole in his soul left by that loss. With a cast of five playing a full ensemble of over-the-top characters, Hampsch has populated his world with the sort of residents that actors would love to play and that audiences will hold onto long after lights fade to black.

A haunting re-imaging of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” that asks what might Scrooge’s and Cratchit’s Christmas future look like if the ghosts had not had their impact many years earlier. Barry Wallace has a real ear for Dickensian dialogue and does a great job achieving in ten short minutes a piece of real depth and pathos. This should definitely be considered for any holiday short works festival.