Recommended by Claudia Haas

Maybe don’t save Mermans. Maybe don’t meet your childhood dreams. Or just face them and dream a new dream. I love this “tale as old as time.” I love all the maybes and the possibilities at the end. Is this fantasy or a reckoning?

Somewhere, Tennessee Williams is in the heavens saying, “I wish I wrote that.” An incisive, delightful rom-com complete with surprise, intrigue, and grace. Sickles dialogue sparkles and sings and while you wish all turns out for the best - you really just hope for a wonderful week ahead for the characters (complete with sewer activity - just read it) and let the chips fall where they may.

How many surprises can Sickles put n a one-minute play? (A lot.) I love how the plays goes for the humanity and not the stereotype. I love how still - anything is possible. And I love - everything about this short moment in time. I want to read/see the entire series.

Oh so many wonderful lines. “I’ve been on my own since I was ten.” (She’s eleven.) This is a spot on snapshot of being a tween and being the mother of one. Written with great care, humor and astute observations, Carnes finds the love in the chaos and then tops all with the perfect last line. A dream of a play.

I am not looking into my washing machine with a flashlight. I do not want to know the truth of where lost socks go. Or do I? This will resonate with anyone (probably you) who lost a sock in the wash. Fun play.

In a world that needs kindness, Julie Brandon comes up with this short play that gives you goodness - even for a scant few minutes. I hope if I am ever Trudy, I meet Marissa. Audiences will feel the same.

A smartly written play, debate, conversation that gives you an appreciation for those that speak without yelling, question without judging and listen when its hard. A thoughtful discourse emerges from a mild flirtation. A play where love goes beyond the attraction between people and jumps to love of the earth, love of faith, and love of the search for new knowledge.

This is one clever mash-up of Halloween and Christmas. I love how Plummer takes all of Dickens tropes and improves on them. Funny with just enough irreverence to make you wonder where it’s going. The ghosts take center stage and really need their own play. Merry Ghostmas to the lucky cast and audience.

I confess I am a Norkin fan - so I will read anything he writes. As a (former) hiker, stairways are a pathway to anywhere and everywhere. Norkin points this out as we ponder where they lead, and do we follow? And where does imagination lead and does reality follow? In one minute, Norkin gets us thinking and the thinking never ends. Does the pathway end? Where does it go and dare we follow?

Just a gorgeous play of truths imbued with magic, of love infused with guilt and of hope infused with hope. Gonzalez offers hope and despair side by side. You know who you root for.