Recommended by Matthew Weaver

Cross sets imaginations spinning with this fun band member-superhero school play that would be a hit with youth performers across the globe, particularly those lugging around large brass instruments. Selfishly, I hope Cross does more within this universe - I want to know EVERYTHING about Upright Bass Kid!!!
TUBA BOY was one of the more popular titles offered during a recent Secret Santa title swap. Cross took it, lived up to the promise and more than made it her own.

A PERFECT contender for the Last Frontier Theater Conference, I'm thinking.
Floyd-Priskorn ALMOST has as much fun as the audience - and the performers perhaps most of all! - with this madcap farce (there's a character named Ox Longacre!) Here she satirizes morning talk shows, douchey trillionaires and baking shows ... a perfect dessert confection, served as a flambé.
This makes me want to come up with zillions of play titles for Jacquie and see what she does with them.

A poignant, wistful holiday offering. When I attended a (Secret Santa) Zoom reading of this play, we in the audience all reflected on the kindness of the characters despite their plans going astray.
There can be holiday plays with plenty of schmaltz, but here is one that shows the realities of holidays, and in doing so displays our humanity.
Philip Middleton Williams knows what he's doing.

Everyone's Thanksgiving would be much-improved with a particularly spicy dish, and boy does Dellagiarino Feriend deliver. BETTER YET, this dish is also hilarious and all-too-true, as it comes tinged with post-election melancholy and in-laws and spouses who forget important necessities to make those in-laws bearable.
Plenty of heart, grumbling and zest make this an absolute-must addition to any holiday play festival festivities. Your audiences will give thanks.

Probably Daniel's signature play (I’m also partial to A REPUTATION for some strange reason). All hallmarks of his writing and plotting are here, waiting to be showcased and upended.
Prillaman’s plays are like an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE or BLACK MIRROR. The only difference: TWILIGHT ZONE and BLACK MIRROR play by rules; Prillaman delights in tossing them out and setting fire to the rulebook, the stage, the audience and the theater parking lot. (It’s the best, safest, coolest arson possible.)

Prillaman works expertly in layers of dread. Is the true impending doom the everyday dullness of the job? Or this bizarre plot? This being a Daniel Prillaman play, the answer is Yes, yes, and oh, baby, just you wait. The comedy makes the horror so much more horrifying, the horror makes the comedy even more batshit. Layers upon layers upon layers.
BEREAVEMENT LEAVE is the WORST play to see/read after a long week of work. BEREAVEMENT LEAVE is the BEST play to see/read after a long week of work.

Daniel’s usual fine work, similar to oh, say, George Saunders or Anton Chekhov writing about a woman being crucified as a SHORT STORY? That short story would be celebrated/hailed/assigned to future English classes so that students can write whole essays about the imagery, the themes and how the author accomplishes so much mastery in such a little space. And so it should be with Emma’s crucifixion. Remarkably Unremarkable? No. Remarkably remarkably unremarkable, which is in itself remarkable.

The thing about Daniel Prillaman is, he writes these gloriously approachable, irresistible plays that feel like something anyone could come up with, and YET they are also the sort of plays that only Daniel Prillaman could ever conceive.
A true marvel is how his characters idly chitchat; we genuinely believe these are three-dimensional figures capable of madness and greatness. Better still, we believe … they are us.
And all that’s before we even get to the evil corn urging everyone to kiss.

OH. MY GOD. You didn't realize you needed an "amphibious nativity" play until right this very moment, but trust me. You do. You really, really do.
Blevins knocks a holiday Secret Santa title swap out of the park with this in-depth take on nativity stories, legends about amphibians and fertility and body horror. It's breathtaking to behold and literally sidesplit-inducing. There are so many layers to be peeled back here, and it's hilarious to boot. Awe-inspiring.
If Blevins can do THIS, with a title like THAT, just imagine what a force she can be for any theater producing her words.

THE PUZZLE has all the trademarks of a Jennifer O'Grady play: Adorable, heartfelt, undercurrents of sadness shaded in by the heartache of reality, and then a seemingly simple and straightforward message that becomes more and more nuanced and intricate and complex as you reflect upon it.
O'Grady finds heart and grace in any small nook or corner she decides to explore, including crossword puzzle boxes. I would love to see an expanded universe following the further adventures of the rest of the letters, as O'Grady does an exquisite job whenever, however she arranges the alphabet.