Recommended by Steven G. Martin

The tension between the characters in this 10-minute drama starts from the first line and never lets up. It evolves during the course of the play, but the tension never declines, and an audience will feel it.

I also love that the tension isn't just tossed aside by the characters, either. It affects Joe, the 19-year-old protagonist, whom the audience learns isn't doing well even before Josh's antagonism. The emotional catharsis of Joe's revelation is earned.

I'm glad Paul Smith's "A Break" already has seen a strong, varied production history. Here's hoping it only grows more robust.

Very dark, very funny, and very self-aware of its literary backbone.

I love how Seanan Palmero Waugh builds the tension and retreats from the tension, only to build and retreat again and again. There's true atmospheric terror being created here especially due to the protagonist's isolation, and then it's undercut by the dullest of observations by the protagonist. "Lenore Once More" is funny and frightening, and it ends with a literary gag that'll have audiences chortling.

I have no idea how an actor wouldn't want to perform this monologue. Waugh provides so much rich variety of content and tone.

A sparse play, a visually stunning play.

Lila Perlman creates an absolutely otherworldly setting for the short horror play "Within Their Range," and it affects an audience emotionally. There is immediate tension created, and it only builds as the characters talk about what they should or shouldn't do. And, even better, Perlman believes in an audience's ability to create the horrors of the climax in their mind.

"Within Their Range" will excite actors, directors, designers, and audiences.

The emotions in this short play about two gay teenagers goes from "Ow!" to "Oh."

It's quite the journey Scott Sickles takes Beauregard and Zeke, not only in the entire series of short plays but in "Miss Coco Peru Does Not Lie!" specifically. There are new explorations -- both physical and emotional -- in these moments on stage.

Actors, directors, and others will remember what relationship milestones were part of which of Sickles' fine plays. They are that important to the characters and the plot. And I look forward to future milestones in the series.

The American Dream is rife for satire when it come to home ownership, financial inequality, healthcare coverage and more. I love that Mark Loewenstern takes on food production and insecurity in this surprising short monologue.

Everything from its setting to its tone makes "The Plate" that much richer. It explores scarcity, nutrition, the overreliance on meat, and other subtle, complex issues related to food.

This is a smart monologue that'll rattle people into feeling more than a bit uncomfortable. Bravo, Loewenstern.

"There's an Order to These Things" may be the most immaculately titled short play ever.

This is the first in Scott Sickles' Beauregard and Zeke series, and there is a lot of work done -- establishing character baselines so audiences can better determine how much they change (or not), establishing conflict to determine how much more conflict there may be.

Scott Sickles does a lot of work creating the world, the characters in the Beauregard and Zeke series. His skill at dialogue, action, character, and conflict rises to the challenge.

Sex and intimacy can intersect, but it feels like they rarely do. When the intersection does happen, though, it's exhilarating. When it happens for the first time in one's life, it's universe-expanding.

Scott Sickles develops the connection between Beau and Zeke even more deeply in "This is My Assistant Beaker." There are moments of connection beyond the purely physical. There are levels of trust and appreciation, of care and concern being expressed. And it's lovely that these two teenagers have found one another.

"Skin" is a tale of friendship, deepening.

Do people need to be exactly the same in order to feel sympathy? The answer, DC Cathro shows in this short play, is "no."

Melissa and Jo have different experiences of betrayal, and as they understand the context of those experiences, they don't attempt to qualify who had it worse. instead, there's is an acceptance and general compassion growing between them.

As always, Castro shows skill at using dialogue to define character, create conflict, and showcase people seeing others and their lives clearly. Everything is made clearer and brighter through his writing.

This one-act romance dramatizes the beginning stages of a relationship by showing us variations in a pattern.

Emily McClain is subtle and deft with her character work in "DoorDashed." There are also several moments that could serve as obstacles or gateways to Erica's and Marcus's connection.

Strongly structured and plotted, generous in characterization, natural in dialogue and tone. "DoorDashed" is a subtle one-act play that should enjoy a varied production history.

Teenage years: that dangerous time when everything is brand new and completely foreign to experience, and affects a person 1,000,000 times harder than it should.

These times are rife for comedy and, as Scott Sickles shows in this short play, compassion. "Would You Like Fries With That?" shows two teenage boys trying to figure out some basics together because there is nothing to guide them otherwise.

And even though thee are funny moments and responses, Sickles gifts Beau and Zeke a connection -- there's a quiet camaraderie brewing, an understanding. This is a generous play.