Recommended by Claudia Haas

This should be required reading/viewing along with the Frosty’s and Rudolph’s that dominate our tv screens in December. Put it with Santaland Diaries. Use it as an alternative to Christmas Carol. Clever and snowy-fun - nothing says “Merry Christmas” more than solving the murder of Frosty-the-Snowman (who by all accounts had ice in his veins). A December delight “in the land of perpetual midnight.”

Food is personal. It’s connecting. It’s sharing. Together. Wang brings it together as a job opportunity turns into sharing a meal. That’s a huge jump and only breaking bread with another person can make that leap. Wang’s leap makes you crave more.

Whoa! Lawing bites the bullet and delivers a play that will take your audience from laughter to absolute silence - which is as it should be. “Ripped from the headlines,” this play has might and bite and and many uncomfortable (inconvenient?) truths.

Sometimes a glazed doughnut is just a glazed doughnut - one of the many pronouncements of truth in Norkin’s play. And sometimes - well, in the scheme of things, “sometimes” doesn’t matter. Something may happen. Anything may happen. Or not. Which is refreshing.

Love is explored. Ignored and explored again. Karp does a lovely job of exploring the complex emotions of what a person has been taught and what they really feel.

I am prejudiced and think every play should begin with looking at the stars. Partain’s play looks at the stars and find worlds that our emotions beg for. In a world that shifts as teens do, Partain gives us slices of life grounded in love, regret, and hope. My wish is that all young performers can experience this play - both onstage and in the audience.

Mabley gives us a tale of teens in flux. Teens where progress has been made. Teens who need more progress. And teens who needed the future so much that they denied their past and present. A coming-of-age tale centered around a relic that serves as a different metaphor for each teen, there is an unspoken wish for each character that needs to be proclaimed - so that each can character can be who they were meant to be. Mabley has the gift of seeing all identities and embracing all.

Advice: Best read in a well lit room with lots of others … maybe not “others” maybe humans nearby. Because the “others” are waiting. And I’m sleeping with the lights on tonight. A true ghost story for any night of the year that you want to spook yourself. Or “others.”

This would be a heckuva lot of fun to stage. A smartly-planned woman’s independence day goes awry and some truths come home. But before any of the truths is wacky mayhem and action-packed chaos. And one of the truths is - we’ve all been n the center of that chaos. We just hate to admit it.

As a Queens lady who attended many bar mitvahs and holy communions and confirmations in the 60’s and 70’s, this play spoke to me personally. I lived through all of Karp’s occasions from the World’s Fair to the Mets to Stonewall. I also grew up knowing that every passage is personal. Every passage is a step towards growth. And we all have our own journey. Karp’s journey is one of hope. Even when hope breaks you.