Recommended by Steven G. Martin

This short monologue is both historical and philosophical. "How I Joined the Navy" led me to read about Guadalcanal and Alligator River, and the setting and timing of this play is absolutely essential to the story.

Even more so, I appreciate the young U.S. Navy Corpsman's take on his story. Try to control life as much as you want, but there are forces beyond human control that push us around.

"The Good Dybbuk" is a wonderful intergenerational short play between grandson and grandfather. There are rich, complex emotions for both Asher and Zayde, and I love the upbeat feelings David Lipschutz creates.

This is an excellent "first-date-goes-horribly-wrong" comedy. I love the characters David Lipschutz has created and all the mayhem Ezra's family brings.

Lipschutz deserves a ton of credit for making the best use of the virtual Zoom format, too. There are on-camera visual hijinks and excellent use of the chat and emoji features. "G'oy Vey!" may be the best Zoom-specific play I've read. And now I need to see it performed.

This monologue is poetic, image-laden, affirming, elegant, honest. Nora Louise Syran excels at establishing an atmosphere, a feeling, in all her plays. "I am the Center of My Universe" is another beautiful example of her work.

"In a where some comedies putter and sputter and flimflam about with no more punch than a soft breeze wafting a facial tissue a few inches, JOHN BUSSER writes a bold comedy filled with TWISTS and TURNS, SUBTERFUGE and REVERSALS, VARIATIONS ON THEME and DIALOGUE and LANGUAGE that will make anyone with a pair of brain cells to rub together CRINGE and think 'DID I REALLY JUST HEAR WHAT I HEARD?'" Plus, it's a good concept.

Busser comedies deliver the laughs every time. "In a World..." is another winner, and I'd love to watch it performed.

Jonathan J. Samarro has crafted terrific characters: siblings arguing, defending, accusing during a highly emotional time. Audiences will also be able to tell how each of them was able to survive during what seems to have been a difficult home life as kids, to see how their shared past had impacted their present. I'd love to see more of Doug, Megan, and Dean and their story.

Terrifyingly real and tragic; my stomach tied itself in knots while I read "Adult in the Room." Greg Vovos shows the fruits of repeated inaction in the face of horrific events. The characters' rage and ineffectual resistance feel like the most natural conclusions in a world where gun violence in schools is taken for granted.

Do people grow up? Mark Harvey Levine's fun, sly comedy suggests the answer is yes ... and no. "Tag" would be great fun to see performed.

Alan Kilpatrick has created a wonderful labyrinth with this one-act comedy. "Knickers" starts simply but gets into a twist with all the conflicts and the language and the plot turns Kilpatrick creates. It's very verbal and the language is used to wonderful effect with threats and lies and reversals topped on top of one another.

Alan Kilpatrick has created a very funny comedy, making fun of bad people and their stupidity. Pretension and self-importance are neatly burst in mere minutes, and audiences will enjoy that very much.