Your Fall 2026 Play-Reading List

As the temperature begins to lower and the sun begins to set earlier and earlier, the desire to curl up with a cast of characters or a particular theme rises. For some, that’s a cozy quest, for others a spooky story and others an academic challenge. For autumn, we’re continuing our campaign to help you read more plays with a curated guide of reads to fit all kinds of autumn aesthetics.

Find your perfect read (or two or three) for any fall mood – be it academic, cozy, fresh, haunting, mysterious, poetic – below.

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If you’re feeling ACADEMIC… Lean into the academia aesthetics (dark, light, green, etc.) with these plays drawing from art, history and literature.

Archduke by Rajiv Joseph (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy)
Belgrade, 1914. Three hungry young men are offered something to eat (and the chance to change the course of history). Their mission: kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand and set the century alight. Embark on this darkly comedic journey by award-winning writer Rajiv Joseph – described by Time Out as “a delicious cackle in the dark”– as it uses history (and comedy!) to talk about the past in tandem with our own moment.

Artemisia by Lauren Gunderson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Artemisia Gentileschi was one of the most celebrated female painters of the seventeenth century, yet her name was all but lost for centuries. Assaulted and publicly shamed at just seventeen, Gentileschi still managed to live her life on her own terms as an artist, a mother and a lover – a modern woman before her time. This play celebrates her artistry, courage and humanity.

Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist by Jeffrey Hatcher (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
London. 1610. It’s plague time again. When a wealthy gentleman flees to the country, his trusted servant opens his house to a pair of con artists and sets up a den of criminal capitalism. Claiming alchemical powers, the quick-witted trio fleece an onslaught of greedy sheep with their virtuosic ability to improvise amidst increasingly frantic comings and goings. This play is comic gold with dupes, double-dupes, duels, disguises and a lucky flea named Lewis.

Creditors by Jen Silverman, adapted from the play by August Strindberg (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Adi, a struggling painter, finds his creative spark reignited by Gustav, a magnetic stranger at an isolated seaside hotel. Their connection is instant and intimate, but what seems like a chance encounter quickly twists into something far darker, as Gustav becomes intrigued by Adi’s wife, the dazzling Tekla. Talk into the night devolves into an intricate web of deception, seduction and revelation, where the lives of all involved may be destroyed or transformed.

Everybody by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
Updating the quintessential Medieval morality play Everyman – a religious allegory about death and salvation performed in public places during church festivals – Jacobs-Jenkins highlights the paradoxes of living in the world today with its focus on the individual by using small extracts and echoes from the original play alongside brilliant and original writing. Though the narrative is focused on death, the result is absurdly fun!

Mary Gets Hers by Emma Horwitz (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
It’s the 10th century! A plague rages on in Germany! Everyone is turning into foam! When two overzealous hermits find an abandoned orphan named Mary, they scheme a saintly rescue mission to protect her purity at any and all costs. Mary, however, has other plans for herself, in this riotous, racy, (ir)religious play inspired by Hrotsvitha of Gandersheim’s closet drama-comedy Abraham, or the Rise and Repentance of Mary.

Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library by Jenny Lyn Bader (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Berlin, 1933. With martial law in effect, political activism has become a capital crime. An encounter between the Gestapo and a graduate student takes a surprising turn when an earnest young officer must interrogate the political thinker Hannah Arendt – a woman of unparalleled wit, charm and ideas. Inspired by real events, this fantastical drama delves into the life and mind of one of history’s deepest thinkers.

Where We Belong by Madeline Sayet (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
A celebration of language and investigation into the impulses that divide and connect us as people. The play follows Achokayis, a member of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, as she travels to England to pursue a degree in Shakespeare, grappling with the question of what it means to remain or leave home. Achokayis’ transformational journey leaves us with the question: What does it mean to belong in an increasingly globalized world?

If you’re feeling COZY… Curl up with these plays that warm the heart and the soul – and sometimes, the tearducts!

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and James Roose-Evans (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
A dramatization of business letters between a young struggling writer in New York and Marks & Co., an antiquarian bookstore in London. In a sense, these are also love letters. They are about the love of good literature. The play takes place over a twenty-year period when Helene Hanff writes to Frank Doel, the delightfully dusty supplier of so many old volumes to Helen who has shown her gratitude through the years by sending care packages to the staff of Marks & Co.

A Distinct Society by Kareem Fahmy (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Nothing much ever happens in the sleepy Haskell Free Library that straddles the border of Vermont and Quebec. But when an Iranian father and daughter, separated by the “Muslim ban,” begin using the library as a meeting place, the French-Canadian librarian, an American border patrol agent and a local teenager find their quiet lives suddenly full of excitement and consequence. Inspired by true events, this is a touching and funny play about the many things – family, food, art, love and politics – that can either divide or unite us.

Dorothy’s Dictionary by E.M. Lewis (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
In this touching and inspirational two-hander, sparks fly when Zan, an angry high school student, works off his community service assignment by helping Dorothy, an ailing librarian. Each of them might just have what the other needs… if they can only find the words. This wonderful character study reminds audiences in a time of technological saturation that human connection – and books! – still matter.

Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise by Ken Ludwig (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
When two strangers meet by letter during World War II, a love story begins. Tony Award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig tells the joyous, heartwarming story of his parents’ courtship and the results are anything but expected in this play for two actors.

Lost Girl by Kimberly Belflower (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
What became of Wendy Darling in the years following her adventures with Peter Pan? Long after returning from Neverland, Wendy decides that she must find Peter in order to reclaim her kiss and move on with her life. Along the way, she meets other girls who went to Neverland and learns she is not alone. A coming-of-age exploration of first love and lasting loss, Lost Girl continues the story of J.M. Barrie’s beloved character – the girl who had to grow up.

Love Letters by A.R. Gurney (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
A Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, this two-hander is about two lifelong friends and the letters they exchange, told with warmth, grace and heart. Andrew and Melissa, both born into wealth and position, begin their correspondence in childhood with birthday party thank-you notes. Their letters continue through their boarding school and college years while they are romantically attached and later through their individual marriages and careers.

Step by Step (US/UK) or The Hill (US/UK) by Peter Quilter
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
Three friends go on a two-day hike together up a hill as a memorial to their recently deceased friend. Each of them carries with them an inscribed stone to place at the peak as a monument to her. But they have to get to the top first, and the climb will be as challenging, unexpected and hilarious as life itself. Available for three women as Step by Step or three men as The Hill, each is a funny and touching new play about friendship and all its complications.

The Cemetery Club by Ivan Menchell (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy / 4w, 1m)
Three Jewish widows meet once a month for tea before going to visit their husbands’ graves. Ida is sweet tempered and ready to begin a new life; Lucille is a feisty embodiment of the girl who just wants to have fun; and Doris is priggish and judgmental, particularly when Sam the butcher enters the scene. He meets the widows while visiting his wife’s grave. Doris and Lucille squash the budding romance between Sam and Ida. They are guilt-stricken when this nearly breaks Ida’s heart.

The Luckiest by Melissa Ross (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
Lissette is a vibrant, independent woman who lives on her own terms. But when a sudden diagnosis changes life as she knows it, she must navigate the strong opinions of her mother and her best friend as she resolutely forges her own path for her future. As she faces her new reality with a healthy dose of humor and heart, Lisette’s journey reminds us of the power in each of us to take ownership of our lives. An affecting, thought-provoking and deeply affirmational story of how we live and love.

Tiny Beautiful Things by Nia Vardalos and Cheryl Strayed (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
Based on the bestselling book and adapted for the stage, this play personifies the questions and answers that “Sugar” was publishing online from 2010-2012. When the struggling writer was asked to take over the unpaid, anonymous position of advice columnist, Strayed used empathy and her personal experiences to help those seeking guidance for obstacles both large and small. A play about reaching when you’re stuck, healing when you’re broken and finding the courage to take on the questions that have no answers.

If you’re looking for something HAUNTING… Try one of these spooky stories, ranging from spine-chilling to somber.

A Burial Place by Owen Panettieri (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Three university-aged friends reunite for a night of beers and laughs at their annual summer sleepover, but a gruesome discovery out in the woods where they used to play puts a pause on the memory-fest. Their town becomes the epicenter of an investigation, and what’s been found could be connected to one of the boys. Some secrets, no matter how far you push them down, never find a place to rest.

Abigail/1702 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Ten years after the Salem witch trials, Abigail Williams seeks to escape her past. When a handsome stranger arrives to her place of hiding, a long-dormant passion reawakens within her. But their contentment is short-lived, for someone else is coming for Abigail, someone who has been looking for her since she danced in the weird woods of Salem. A debt will be paid – but first, Abigail must make peace with the woman she most wronged. An inventive take on the American classic.

Mlima’s Tale by Lynn Nottage (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Mlima is a magnificent elephant trapped by the underground international ivory market. As he follows a trail littered by a history of greed, two-time Pulitzer winner Lynn Nottage takes us on a journey through memory, fear, tradition and the destruction that follows in its wake. “Those of you who don’t believe in ghosts are likely to think again” (The New York Times) after reading this thought-provoking, heart-wrenching play that speaks to the pain and the suffering of the natural world.

Suddenly Last Summer by Tennessee Williams (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Tennessee Williams plumbs the depths of the human psyche in this haunting one-act drama. Catharine Holly has just witnessed the murder of her cousin Sebastian. When Sebastian’s mother, Mrs. Venable, invites a psychiatrist to question Catharine about her story, she paints a picture so graphic it’s almost unbelievable. Mrs. Venable would rather not believe it. So, how far will a mother go to preserve her son’s reputation?

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by John Heimbuch, Jon Ferguson and Washington Irving (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
This dynamic ensemble-based retelling of the famous Washington Irving short story is a spooktacular, crowd-pleasing theatrical event. In the quaint village of Sleepy Hollow, stories of wonder and strangeness surround the legend of a mighty headless Hessian. When the humble schoolteacher Ichabod Crane vies for the hand of the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, the townsfolk might protest, but it is ultimately the Horseman who will decide Ichabod’s fate.

Witch by Jen Silverman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
Mischief is afoot in the sleepy village of Edmonton, and the fate of the world is at stake. When the emotionally conflicted son of the local lord and an ambitious newcomer come into conflict, the Devil himself offers help. But while the men take advantage of the Devil’s bargain, someone else in town stands her ground, someone who is not so easily bought – Elizabeth, an outcast whom everyone believes to be a witch. An inventive retelling of a Jacobean drama, this sharp, subversive fable debates how much our souls are worth when hope is hard to come by.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill and Stephen Mallatratt (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
The framework of this spine tingler is unusual: A lawyer hires an actor to tutor him in recounting a story that has long troubled him concerning events while at the funeral of an elderly recluse. There he caught sight of the woman in black, the mere mention of whom terrifies the locals, for she is a specter who haunts the neighborhood where her illegitimate child was accidentally killed. Anyone who sees her dies! A classic of the genre, perfect for a dark and stormy night.

If you’re feeling MYSTERIOUS… See if you can solve the question of whodunit in these theatrical selections.

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie and Ken Ludwig (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
In Ken Ludwig’s thrilling stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s story that ups the ante on both the humor and cozy mystery elements, Hercule Poirot becomes entangled in a web of deceit and desire aboard a cruise ship on the Nile River. When a murder occurs among the passengers, Poirot springs into action to unmask a killer who could strike again at any moment.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Ten strangers are summoned to a remote island. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal and a secret that will seal their fate – for each has been marked for murder. One of Christie’s most foreboding tales and a masterpiece of dramatic construction, this dark thriller in three acts’s growing sense of dread and unfaltering tension will keep you guessing to the very end.

Any Body for Tea? by C.B. Gilford (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy)
While investigating the death of an elderly lady, Detective Dennis O’Finn discovers that he is the motive for murder. The reason? Six sweet but slightly balmy ladies are all in love with their bachelor neighbor, the handsome, forty-ish O’Finn. To lure him to visit, they stage a homicide. But to keep him around, they must do it again! Based on the enormously successful Bull in a China Shop, this charmer of a chiller is perfect for a night in.

Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
Poisoners never go out of style – this timeless hit tells the story of two otherwise charming elderly ladies determined to get rid of all their lonely lodgers in the name of mercy. Mortimer Brewster’s engagement announcement is upended when he discovers a corpse in his elderly aunts’ window seat. Between his aunts’ penchant for poisoning wine, a brother who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, and another brother hiding from the police – not to mention Mortimer’s own hesitancy about marriage – it’ll be a miracle if he makes it to his wedding. This hilarious Broadway hit is a classic dark comedy about the only thing more deadly than poison: family.

Deadline by Marcia Kash and Douglas E. Hughes (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy) 
Just as they are about to give up on their careers, a pair of struggling playwrights find out that their mentor has just died with the script to his upcoming Broadway thriller left unfinished. Tasked with completing his work in under a week, Mara and Don jump into the story, but once they begin digging into the world of the play, they quickly find themselves trapped inside it. Can they use their writing skills to solve the mystery and save the play – and themselves?

How to Get Away with a Murder Mystery by Don Zolidis (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy)
Five mysterious color-coded guests. A mansion. A murder. Can the killer get away with it? And how will the sleuths bring them to justice? A handy guide to escaping the law when one happens to be a prime suspect in a mysterious murder. Told through vignettes, this show hilariously skewers the tropes of the murder mystery: an airtight alibi, a long-winded monologue by a detective with an accent and even an impossibly complicated Rube Goldberg murder device.

The Da Vinci Code by Duncan Abel and Rachel Wagstaff, adapted from the novel by Dan Brown (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
In this thrilling play, Professor Robert Langdon is called to the Louvre in the dead of night, where he unwittingly becomes the center of a murder investigation. When cryptologist Sophie Neveu arrives at the scene, she alerts Robert that, not only is he being asked to solve the crime, but he is also the prime suspect. Soon they are in a race against time to clear Robert’s name and decipher a labyrinthine code before a shocking historical secret is lost forever. From Paris to London and beyond, follow along with two of your favorite characters as they solve this pulse-racing mystery.

If you’re looking for something NEW…Keep your finger on the pulse of contemporary playwriting with these new publications!

Corners Grove by Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
A nod to Our Town, this new play shifts Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece into the 21st century to a small town about 40 miles south of San Francisco. George, Emily and their friends are determined to live their lives on their own terms and to shed versions of themselves they’ve outgrown, whether that be their high school sweetheart or their gender identity. Life has only spun forward, and the only way for the residents of Corners Grove to keep up is to embrace the unknown and commit to their own truths.

Exotic Deadly: Or the MSG Play by Keiko Green (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
It’s 1999, and Ami is an awkward, Japanese American high school girl just trying to stay as invisible as possible until her world comes crashing down with a terrible discovery: Her family is responsible for manufacturing MSG, the poison spice getting all the kids hooked. Meanwhile, a mysterious new girl arrives from Japan. Her name? Exotic Deadly. She’s loud, she smokes and she’s not playing by the rules. Who… or what is she? In this time-traveling adventure, Ami vows to save the world from MSG and through her quest, realizes what she’s capable of, if she would just stop being so invisible.

Love You More by Nikhil Mahapatra (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
Do you have siblings? Are you the favorite? No? Are you sure? A play about Shakespeare’s three sisters (but actually only two sisters) being sisterly – and figuring out what that means when you’re all that’s left. When Lear passes away, and Goneril and Cordelia both do not know how to continue having a relationship with each other after the only thing connecting them is gone and attempt to heal their fractured relationship – with mixed results.

Machine Learning by Francisco Mendoza (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
When his estranged, alcoholic father is diagnosed with liver cancer, computer scientist Jorge dreams up a nursing app to manage the disease in his stead. As the machine’s capabilities grow, the possibility of leaving it in charge of the treatment becomes more real, forcing Jorge to reckon with his responsibilities as a son and as a creator. Dealing with issues of immigration, legacy and life dreams, this outstanding new sci-fi explores what it means to be children – and what it means to be parents.

Sea of Terror by Sam Catlin (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy)
Life is a relentless sea of terror and peril – and nothing is scarier than impending social plans. When Alice and Ben are faced with an evening hosting friends for a casual get together, they start to unravel, taking their guests and the audience on a terrifyingly relatable ride. This dark comedy is for anyone who has made plans they wish they could cancel.

School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh (US)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
Paulina, the reigning queen bee at Ghana’s most exclusive boarding school, has her sights set on the Miss Universe pageant. But the arrival of Ericka, a new student with undeniable talent and beauty, captures the attention of the pageant recruiter – and Paulina’s hive-minded friends. This buoyant and biting comedy – opening on Broadway this fall – explores the universal similarities (and glaring differences) facing teenage girls across the globe.

the ripple, the wave that carried me home by Christina Anderson (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
A poignant, transporting and quietly subversive story of racial justice, political legacy and family forgiveness. Janice’s childhood was steeped in her parents’ activism as they fought for the integration of public swimming pools in 1960s Kansas and taught scores of Black children to swim. But Janice later steps away from her parents’ politics and starts her own life and family far away – until she’s pressed into speaking at a ceremony honoring her father. You can learn more about the inspiration behind the play from the playwright herself here.

The Time Machine by Amiel Gladstone (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Based on H.G. Wells’ classic novel, this theatrical adaptation follows The Traveler in their quest in creating a virtual reality so lifelike that it shows what the future holds. When a demonstration for a group of different members of society sends them too far into the future, they discover Eloi, a community of young people content and almost in a daze, and Morlocks, older beings hidden from the light and fearful of change. Will they make it back safely, and will anyone believe it’s even real? A fresh take on the original novel and a modern look at technology’s effect on society.

Toros by Danny Tejera (US)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Toro is back in Madrid hanging out with his high school friends, Juan and Andrea (and Juan’s dying golden retriever, Tica). They spend their weekends exactly like they used to: chain-smoking pitis in Juan’s garage, listening to Juan’s latest DJ mix, and going out to pijo clubs around Madrid. But something’s not quite right. As sexual tensions emerge and old power dynamics get challenged, these third culture kids struggle to grow up, take responsibility and find a version of reality to believe in.

If you’re feeling POETIC… Join in on the contemplative nature of the season with the beautiful wordsmithing done by these writers.

cullud wattah by Erika Dickerson-Despenza (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Part meditation/call to action, part domestic drama, cullud wattah explores the effects of the Flint water crisis on a multigenerational family of Black women. Blending form and bending time, this poetic play dives deep into the poisonous choices of the outside world, the contamination within, and how we make the best choices for our families’ future when there are no real, present options.

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Capturing the brutal, tender and dramatic lives of contemporary Black women, this beautiful play offers a transformative, riveting evening of provocative dance, music and poetry. This groundbreaking “choreopoem” is a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women.

Furlough’s Paradise by a.k. payne (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
In this radiant, nuanced two-hander – a staggering plea for empathy and connection – previously inseparable cousins Sade and Mina struggle to reconnect after returning home for the funeral of Sade’s mother. While Sade is on a three-day furlough from prison and Mina experiences a brief reprieve from her career and life on the West Coast, the two try to make sense of grief, home, love and kinship. Poetic and theatrical, this “quiet triumph of intimacy, memory and liberation” (Indulge) explores restorative justice and the family dreams of a utopia yet to be realized.

In the Green by Grace McLean (US)
(Full-Length Musical, Drama)
As a young girl, medieval saint, healer, visionary, exorcist and composer Hildegard von Bingen was locked in a cloister’s cell after demonstrating a preternatural sensitivity to the world around her. Sequestered with Hildegard is Jutta, a woman who has spent her life secluded in an effort to recover a whole self after deepest trauma. Under Jutta’s guidance, Hildegard attempts to reassemble her own fragmented self while her mentor proselytizes a rejection of brokenness. This lyrical musical is an astonishing, sonically sophisticated saga of two exceptional women broken by the world and their journey of healing that changed history.

On the Wings of a Mariposa by Dinorah Márquez Abadiano, Barbara Joosse and Alvaro Saar Rios (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
Based on Barbara Joosse’s sentimental children’s book, this play with music is the story about one girl’s quest to keep her abuelita’s memory alive during the beautiful annual monarch butterfly migration. After her abuelita dies, 10-year-old Pilar uses an old shawl that smells like her grandmother to help remember their adventures together. But as the shawl’s scent fades, so too do Pilar’s memories. Once it’s gone, will she lose her grandmother forever? This play with music is a true celebration of life and bursts at the seams with warm memories and joy with roles for a number of whimsical hearts.

The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy)
An Obie Award-winning whirlwind tour of a forbidden zone, The Vagina Monologues introduces a wildly divergent gathering of female voices to explores consensual and non-consensual sexual experiences, body image, genital mutilation, direct and indirect encounters with sexual reproduction, vaginal care, menstruation, prostitution, and several other topics through the eyes of women of various ages, races, sexualities and other differences, all with striking words.

If you’re feeling UP FOR A CHALLENGE… Try one of these bold theatrical works that experiment with style, structure and topics.

Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dramatic Comedy)
At the Frasier household, preparations for Grandma’s birthday party are underway. Beverly is holding on to her sanity by a thread to make sure this party is perfect, but her sister can’t be bothered to help, her husband doesn’t seem to listen, her brother is MIA, her daughter is a teenager and maybe nothing is what it seems in the first place. This Pulitzer Prize-winning story is a searing examination of families, drama, family dramas and the insidiousness of white supremacy.

Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn and Michael Friedman (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy)
What will endure when the cataclysm arrives – when the grid fails, society crumbles, and we’re faced with the task of rebuilding? Anne Washburn’s imaginative dark comedy is an animated exploration of how the pop culture of one era might evolve into the mythology of another. After the collapse of civilization, a group of survivors share a campfire and begin to piece together the plot of The Simpsons episode ‘Cape Feare’ entirely from memory. Seven years later, this and other snippets of pop culture (sitcom plots, commercials, jingles and pop songs) have become the live entertainment of a post-apocalyptic society, sincerely trying to hold onto its past. Seventy-five years later, these are the myths and legends from which new forms of performance are created.

Neighbors by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (US)
(Full-Length Play, Dark Comedy)
Classics professor Richard Patterson is not happy. Have you seen the new neighbors? The family of black entertainers that has moved in next door is an embarrassment – loud, raucous, tacky and shameless. They’re not just taking over the neighborhood; they’re infiltrating his perfect, interracial family and his perfect, post-racial sanity. In its scathing exploration of denial and satire of black entertainment from minstrelsy to hip-hop, this play is shocking, explosive and wildly theatrical.

Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco and Derek Prouse (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Political Satire) 
The sublime is confused with the ridiculous in this savage commentary on the human condition, a staple of 20th century drama. A small town is besieged by one roaring citizen who becomes a rhinoceros and proceeds to trample on the social order. As more citizens are transformed into rhinoceroses, the trampling becomes overwhelming and more citizens become rhinoceroses. Only one sane man, Berenger, remains, unable to change his form and identity.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Steve Martin (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
Steve Martin’s long-running off-Broadway absurdist comedy places Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso in a Parisian café in 1904, just before the renowned scientist transformed physics with his theory of relativity and the celebrated painter set the art world afire with cubism.

The Hatmaker’s Wife by Lauren Yee (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Comedy)
When a young woman moves in with her boyfriend expecting domestic bliss, their new house reveals the magical tale of its previous inhabitants: an old hat-maker and his long-suffering wife, who runs away with his favorite hat. This sweet and surreal story bends time and space to redefine the idea of family, home and true love itself.

’Til Death by Alexis Scheer (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 2m)
As a foreign war correspondent, Marina has put her life on the line to illuminate the darkest corners of humanity. Having just returned from a particularly bloody conflict, she flirts with staying home for good – alongside her cameraman turned lover. With her closest friends and family gathered on the eve of her lifetime achievement award ceremony, she decides to cap this glorious moment with an elopement. As Marina tries to take hold of her life, she’s forced to reckon with the grip that war has held on her.

Ugly Lies the Bone by Lindsey Ferrentino (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama)
In this honest, theatrical and compelling drama, a wounded war veteran Jess uses virtual reality game therapy to build a breathtaking new world where she can escape her pain. As Jess advances farther in the game, she begins to restore her relationships, her life and, slowly, herself. Lindsey Ferrentino’s transformative play was inspired by a real video game therapy called “Snow World,” currently being used to treat burn survivor veterans living in a state of perpetual pain.

Vladimir by Erika Sheffer (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 3w, 4m)
This haunting play unfolds in Moscow, where an independent journalist covering Putin’s first term struggles to maintain sanity and hope in increasingly hostile circumstances. She finds herself on the brink of an explosive story – but as danger mounts for her and her sources, she questions whether her bravery will make any difference at all. Vladimir is about standing up to immorality no matter the cost when you know your nation is headed for disaster.

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For more great plays to read, visit Concord Theatricals in the US or the UK.