Recommended by Steven G. Martin

Lee Lawing infuses a lot of fun into "Storm Eye Closing" with fast-paced action, explosions, cons and double-crossing characters. There's a lot of opportunity for stagecraft: fight choreography, lighting, sound, sets and costumes. Action done well!

"Change is hard."

In one minute, Claudia Haas shows the audience just how much school life in the United States has changed these past few years. "It's Special" is a clear, concise and entertaining script that will shake an audience.

Masterful and sublime. Vovos sets up the rules of this comedy so easily and subtly, and then builds upon the situation to make it more ridiculous (in a good way). And just when the laughs are coming good and plenty, he knocks the audience off its chair with scathing honesty about relationships and self-esteem, and even questions if love is enough.

And then, back to comedy. God bless John and Katharine, our protagonists. This is a roller coaster of an emotional short play.

"Truth doesn’t matter anymore. It’s who plays this game best." Kel Vance's political campaign satire "Vote 4 Me" delivers a punch as Willa explains to Rada how politics and public appeal work. All credit to Vance, though, when Rada punches back with her ideals firmly set forward. This is a terrific comic piece.

Matthew Weaver has written a fun, one-act mystery about relationships -- both sibling and romantic -- and destiny in "Kiss Me in the House of Mirrors." There are moments of fun-house frights, sleight-of-hand illusion and theatrical scares that audiences will enjoy. But Weaver goes beyond those with some strange, mysterious moments that underscore the characters' agendas.

Greg Vovos has created a world in which Work is Hell: unfulfilling, pointless, repetitive and filled with nonspeaking corporate lackeys whose only job -- it seems -- is to create a culture of sirens and threats and impossible, ridiculous rules. Impressively, Vovos makes it feel like Joe and Chris are accustomed to this world, that they've lived in it for a while now, and have given up.

This play is very funny, too, but darkly so. Credit goes to Vovos for the downbeat ending. "Does it matter?" When you're stuck in hell, no, it doesn't.

This fun play bursts with insider information about auditioning, rehearsing and performing theatre. Hageman has written terrific character-specific comedy -- the one-woman show quip is hilarious! -- and broad comic moments that reflect some stereotypes about the process. Hageman shows her love for theatre and performers, though, when the characters question the validity of the stereotypes. Their effort to understand and move beyond those stereotypes is wonderful, and this would be a wonderful script for classes, camps or festivals.

"The Thought Doesn't Count" is a legitimately marvelous script that actors will love to play, that audiences will love to watch and hear.

The laughs are genuine -- including bawdy ones at the start (the line about hurricanes is a killer) -- the dread through miscommunication is genuine, and the gut punch of reality and realization hurts. And somehow Emily Hageman is also able to bring the characters through guilt and self-loathing to a kind of grace and at least recognition, if not happiness, because she loves them enough to provide a complete journey.

Produce this play.

Hayet's Date with Death has a jaw-dropping situation and action, and his dialogue provides some seriously dry humor that'll shock audiences for a moment before they laugh out loud. This would be terrific to produce in any event, including a romance- or Valentine's Day-related festival.

Hayet's Letter of the Law sets up its comic premise wonderfully, and then hits it out of the park on the follow-through. This would be a wonderful addition for a Christmas-themed event.