Recommended by Steven G. Martin

A glorious ice cream sundae of a one-act play, offering many flavors of emotions in a compact space: cheery in its imagination, heartbreaking in its emotion, ultimately kind-hearted and humane (all Vovos plays are humane).

The world sucks, but being able to hold someone close to you who understands how you feel and doesn't run away in terror ... that's ultimately good. "Dino" is about discovering the ultimate good.

Bohannon fills the stage with heartbreak. It fills the characters in this short play as well as audiences who are unable to help the characters cope with the grief, confusion, and rage they feel.

The anticipation! The anticipation! Cathro builds the tension of this short comedy beautifully, as audiences wait for the payoff. Quite funny, and visually wonderful.

I love how soothing this monologue is.

People's memories can be trigged by a sound, a smell, a taste. John Weagly's "A Touch of Grass" is one of the first I can think of that uses the sense of touch to evoke memories. Being in nature brings nostalgic, joyful memories to Kaylee. And why shouldn't it? The softness of grass, the firmness of soil. There's a wonderful use of imagery in this short play.

Perfect, succinct satire. I cringed, cringed, cringed as Alex just would not shut up. This is a fine character piece actors will enjoy performing.

Julie D'Aubigny may be one of the most appealing capital-C Characters ever: ever-confident, supremely skilled, quick-witted, and ruled by many passions. Even in the 21st century, she would have made quite the joyful spectacle.

Monica Cross does D'Aubigny's tale justice by creating a play that may be as brisk, theatrical, and wry as the protagonist herself. I look forward very much to the further development of "... Julie D'Aubigny/finds true love."

Nabra Nelson has written a fun, brisk, comic play that nicely twists the tale of The Fall in Genesis. It'd be fun to watch "Creation Gossip" in production.

Credit August Forman and their skill in creating sheer, unadulterated joy in this short comedy. It's easy to see why "A Lesbian Walks into a Bar" already has multiple productions.

There are a lot of opportunities for over-the-top reactions -- some of the action and visuals Forman include had me laughing like a maniac with glee. And it's wonderful to see a character put herself out there for romance.

I love how Peter Dakutis shows two different portraits of The Individual in "Big, Beautiful, Terrifying," a one-minute dash of social satire.

Watching this play almost could serve as a personality test -- you either laugh at the Romantic imagery in Whitman's poems or you cringe at intrusion of technology. Brief and insightful.

"Kansas" is a portrait of genuine sisterly love and care. Haas leaves an audience to imagine the backstory and character history that lead to such a desperate need to escape. But ultimately, this is a story of care, protection, and a bit of fantasy come true.