Recommended by Steven G. Martin

An excellent short play whose slow burn to darkness and Dystopia will surprise audiences. The characters, the setting will seem familiar, but they live under the added burden of women's reproductive rights being cast aside. "Egg in Spoon" doesn't show the fight against misogyny. Rather, it shows the consequences and it's all the more powerful because of that.

The women in "3 Days" are direct and earnest. It makes their dialogue that much more powerful to those listening; you're navigating their direct emotions.

And there is a lot of emotion. These women recognize the world around them, the prejudices, the inequality, the ugliness, stupidity and cruelty. But another reason I love "3 Days" is that Caridad Svich recognizes there is strength and serenity. There is recovery.

"3 Days" would be marvelous to experience in person or through audio or digital media.

Ruben Carbajal pares down character, setting, dialogue to their barest essentials in this marvelous one-minute play. By making it so spare, Carbajal makes the story even more intense.

There is much to appreciate in Carbajal's skill; there is so much to enjoy in this emotional story.

"Noir Hamlet" is a wonderful mashup, with plenty of action, suspense and humor. What I like best is that John Minigan -- clearly a fan of Shakespeare and detective fiction -- didn't feel obliged to follow the plot of "Hamlet" point-by-point. The new characters, especially Rae, lift "Noir Hamlet" beyond straightforward adaptation.

I hope "Noir Hamlet" enjoys a lengthy, robust production history.

Like the desserts that represent the end of the Christmas meal in this play, this play represents the end of Nora Louise Syran's "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France" series.

It's apropos that the couple in the play enjoy something sweet because audiences will find sweetness too: food, love, the holiday season and Syran's strength in developing atmosphere through location and season. Like several of the plays in this series, "Twelve Drummers Drumming" isn't advanced through conflict, but rather the story elements of character and setting.

I would enjoy a full production of this complete series. Félicitations, dramaturge!

A papercut of a play: brief, swift and cutting.

"Office Hours" shreds a few subjects in under 60 seconds: entitlement, the state of education, and modes of parenting. And probably more.

The ending is funny but as audiences think on it, it also will induce a cringe of recognition. I guarantee we all know the people in this short comedy because of Jackie Martin's broad and strong characterizations.

"Eleven Pipers Piping" is not the monologue I was expecting.

Nora Louise Syran has written a wistful short monologue. While there's a pride to this character -- pride of place, pride of culture and tradition -- there's also a sad knowledge that things change and fade, that sometimes things die out.

Syran makes a brilliant touch in having the character be an older teacher wanting to pass along knowledge to further generations. The use of bagpipe music and the Breton language also is inspired. This entry in the "Twelve Days of Christmas in France" series may best stand alone.

This is an ambitious short play, serving as an omnibus of scenes that extend the previous 9 plays in Nora Louise Syran's "The Twelve Days of Christmas in France" series. While it would be a challenge to stage, it would be a lot of fun for actors an audiences to see how the characters' lives extend beyond just those few moments we spent with them earlier.

"Ten Lords a Leaping" is the linchpin of the series and makes it a collection that must be performed together in a single sitting.

"Nine Ladies Dancing" is the silliest and funniest installment in Nora Louise Syran's "The Twelve Days of Christmas" series. There are sight gags, wordplay, character-based humor, situational humor, and action gallivanting through this 4-minute-long comedy. It's a gift to comic actors and audiences who enjoy them.

I enjoy Nora Louise Syran's dramatic monologue "Eight Maids a Milking" because it is set on a farm, that it showcases a farmer at work. I like how self-aware the farmer is of herself, how aware she is of the family's history and its present, and at how others look at her and compare her to a standard of womanhood she doesn't meet. And I like how she gets done what she needs to get done.

I admire this nose-to-the-grindstone monloogue.