1. "Deathtrap." Ira Levin's 1978 smash Broadway hit layers devilish twist upon devilish twist. The story is about an over-the-hill playwright who plots to murder his most brilliant student, and pass his new thriller off as the playwright's own.

2. "M. Butterfly." David Henry Hwang's 1988 play is all the more fascinating because it is based on a true story, the relationship between a French civil servant who carries on a 20-year affair with an opera singer who really is a spy for the Chinese government. This one has a plot twist in the middle of the first act that, 20 years after it was first produced, still stuns theater patrons.

3. "The Shape of Things." Initially, playwright Neil LaBute seems to be making a conventional drama about a nerdy museum security guard named Adam who is set free by a charming free spirit, named Evelyn. The couple meet as Evelyn is about to deface a nude statue with a can of spray paint. Ha. LaBute has something far more disturbing up his capacious sleeves.

4. "The Woman in Black." One of that rarest of occurrences -- a truly scary stage play. Based on Susan Hill's 1983 horror novel, the story concerns a young attorney called to an isolated home in England to attend the funeral of a mysterious, elderly widow. As the lawyer sorts through the widow's papers, he must contend with an escalating series of unexplained noises, frightening events, and hauntings by the title character.

5. "The Crucifer of Blood." Paul Giovanni adapted a Sherlock Holmes story, "The Sing of Four." The plot concerns colonial India in the mid-19th century, and a cursed treasure chest. The long-running stage production had a special effect that had audience members leaping out of their chairs in shock.