Recommended by Claudia Haas

How many plays have you laughing at the absurdity of life in general and then pulls you up short? It is indeed very funny and sadly topical. What starts out as absurd becomes vindication. Original, clever and ultimately moving.

This is just a beautiful take on immigration as seen through a young boy and his nightmares. The fantasy gets just frightening enough before Michael/Miguel stops being scared and young audiences will be drawn into it. The debate about who has the right to scare the boy is both humorous and poignant. The use of a child's night terror perfectly highlights the political climate of our time. It's sweet with a little ghostly chill.

If you love time-traveling monkey double agents, this is your play. "Planet of the Apes" meets "Francis Bacon Really Wrote Shakespeare" in this dystopian-future-monkey-play. Monkey-jokes run amok as Abley manages to satirize, literature, funding, enslavement and anything else the little monkeys think of. It's a grand romp into the future.

Adams captures the tightrope one walks in middle school. It's hard to stay true to yourself when you are still figuring out what "yourself" is. The characters are all part-child, part-adult and very vulnerable. The play's large, diverse cast make it a perfect fit for middle schools. The young performers will relate to all the situations and the audiences will be nodding their heads and seeing themselves onstage. At times uncomfortable, Adams has the loveliest kernel of hope for all of them at the end of the play.

Children act out what they need to figure out. They learn something and turn it into a game. This is all too believable and heart-stopping. It's a game that no child should ever play. It's a game that is probably being played. Include it in a gun-control festival and make the game stop.

This is one tasty morsel of a play. It's a combination of a "love letter to the theatre" and "why didn't I become an accountant instead of a playwright?" From metro cards for the actors to carfare for a parrot, to needing bowling balls as props even though they're not needed in the script - the play had me reeling. It's all true. Of course, truth is relative (as is every line and character in the play). Theatricals and non-theatricals will be delighted. And the non-theatricals? They'll learn a lot about theatre. It's a delicious script.

I had a huge smile plastered on my face as I read this and so will you. There is nothing but glee and chuckles and a whole lot of endearing magic running through this play. It lifts your spirit and makes you take another take on some interesting work arrangements. The build-up gets quirkier and sillier on each page. It's a delight for young audiences but I guarantee all audiences will love this delicious confection.

What a pleasure it is to read scripts geared for mature actors that have left the "little old lady/man" stereotypes behind. The plays are very funny, honest and blessedly sexy. Orloff doesn't steer away from the subject of loss but addresses the needs of older people to soldier on in all ways: friendship, family and romance. Romance is front and center and romance includes being physical. There's a brave new world for seniors in these related plays and the old norms do not apply. Audiences would love this. Produce it.

Mother and daughter - barely a generation apart but the lens is different. A harrowing short play about what we convince ourselves and what really happened. There’s a hope that things have improved just a wee bit years later, but a sadness that it’s so slight. A moving affirmation for the Me, Too movement and festivals. Beautiful roles for two actresses.

Burbano covers a lot of ground in this short play. In the end, the battles of wills between two generations of women was riveting. Two sympathetic point of views caught me by surprise. And while Burbano certainly critiques many social ills, the characters remain nuanced and human. A wonderful exercise in "never assume," I found myself thinking about my own judgements. The play showcases our perceived reality versus a true, multi-dimensional one.