Recommended by Matthew Weaver

This one never fails to make me cry. It's about ancient Egypt, but it's also not. It's really, really not.
I had the pleasure of watching this as part of Gi60's annual one-minute play festival.
A REPORT ON ANCIENT EGYPT is a brief but sterling example of why Mark Harvey Levine's work is so widely, and deservingly, lauded. It's nimble, it's heartfelt, it has a secret, delightfully wicked streak.
When putting together a festival devoted to 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic or just a festival of really good plays, this is one that better be sitting high atop your list.

Too late!
McMorran's play is deservedly getting kudos for the way she says so very much in so very little words.
But, it's also particularly noteworthy in the way that, in a very brief amount of time, tests the confines and the boundaries of both page and stage, blurring the lines between production and audience.
Rarely does a playwright embrace the "play" part of playwriting so enthusiastically and mercilessly.

Zamoyta's play ambles like a real conversation between teenage girls would, as Marilee and Jo talk about questionable men, McDonald's, the Catholic nuns who are their teachers, the Bible and Stephen King. It's messy, gritty, dark and exceptional for how real it is. Would love to see this performed - select it for your festival to give two younger performers the chance to make their theatrical name. A stellar work, reminiscent of Annie Baker or Justice Hehir. Produce it produce it produce it!

Ooh, this is interesting and fascinating and .. I could see a lot of theatre students devoting whole papers to this one-act!
There are playwrights who tiptoe around hot-button topics and then there is Sickles, who embraces hot-button topics with gusto, brings them inside and serves them hot soup. WINTER ON THE CUSP OF SAGITTARIUS offers no easy answers to its audience, although its characters seem on the ... verge of finding one for themselves. Your mileage may vary on how inclined you are to agree with them.
Bold storytelling from a bold playwright, who exemplifies making the riskiest choice.

Great roles for strong women, as Francesa and Jodilyn are forced to confront an ... uncomfortable reality. Can they choose to live with it? And if they can, what sort of life, exactly, are they choosing?
Sickles offers a treasure trove, a smorgasbord of layered emotion to performers starved for wit, intelligence, good humor and nuance. Select this play for your festival instead of another 10-minute where women are mute or invisible.
I strongly suspect many people in the audience will shift uncomfortably in their seats or nod knowingly, while glancing around to see if every eye is upon them.

A very realistic depiction of the aftermath of a tragic accident, in which a reknowned artist is not able to suddenly pick up where he left off and there is no magic recovery, no easy answer, no medical miracle. Sickles deserves credit for this alone.
But ...
O, FOR A MUSE OF FIRE is also very, very funny. Deeply so, which makes the sadness of the situation carry all that much extra oomph. Lane and Vaughn have well and truly lost something, many somethings, and that which they have lost is irretrievable.
Expect audiences to leave laughing, and teary-eyed.

There is something about Sickles' kid characters. They are dark, gloomy, maudlin and preternaturally intelligent ... and a delight! Circumstances have forced them to become wise beyond their years, and yet Sickles never loses sight of their innocence, to boot.
THE STEPS is revelatory in that it gives the audience a glimpse into the entire universe contained within each child - from an eerie photo prompt. Sickles shows how far apart they are, and the places where they overlap, and the gaps between love and respect are real and heartbreaking and REAL.
Sickles spins a simple photograph into theatrical gold.

This ... did not go any of the places I expected it to go.
This has all the trademarks of Steve Martin's finest work, including the fact that he will take all of those finely honed, well-earned trademarks and deliver something completely unexpected and profound and, in BADDEST KID ON EMERSON's case, completely, utterly shocking.
Here Martin offers a short play that is like TWILIGHT ZONE run through a BLACK MIRROR blender, only his satire is even more savage and unflinching and he discards any sense of sci-fi for commentary on just how we treat our heroes. Raw and ANGRY.

BOOM. Cathro delivers one hell of a 10-minute play (show this one to the 10-minute play haters) in a post-apocalyptic, Rapturous feelgood that is the perfect read (and mayhap even a production, nudge nudge wink wink) in these waning days of 2020. This play is Ivesian (very much a compliment) and devilishly clever. Right up there with some of my favorites on NPX. Wish fulfillment (with a healthy dose of Monkey's Paw) at its very best. I particularly like how PLAUSIBLE Cathro makes it all seem. Pure delight, from beginning to wonderful end.

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS.
Baughfman takes a pop culture phenomenon and a crucial song lyric from a Christmas mainstay, and more than makes both his own, offering a great role for young women teenage performers (!!!!) in a play fit for a winter festival (!!!!)
It's smart, it's clever, it's knowing, it's kind. It advocates for youth, and for art and, of course, it advocates for pizza, in its own quiet way.
Baughfman's concepts are envy-worthy.
You know what? I'm just gonna go ahead and declare this part of the TMNT canon, now.
Cowabunga, indeed.
**nods firmly**
Cowabunga, indeed.