Short Stuff, Tall Order
Summer Shorts Festival Reinvents Itself at
Carnival Center
By Mary Damiano
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Irene Adjan,
Stephen Trovillian and Antonio Amadeo in Splat! by Davie playwright
Michael McKeever, part of Summer Shorts, City Theatre’s short play festival
Photo: George Schiavonne |
If Summer Shorts were the type of event to have a
theme, this year’s would be ‘reinvention’.
City Theatre’s short play festival is now in its 12th year, and
it’s a year of transition. First, there’s the venue, which has changed from the
Ring Theatre on the campus of the University of Miami in Coral Gables to the
Studio Theatre, a black box space in downtown Miami’s new Carnival Center. The
festival’s food has changed too, from the traditional picnic-style box lunch to
a moveable feast of tapas stations. Then there’s the staging; for the first
time, the 15 plays will be produced in the round. And this year, a children’s
component called Shorts for Kids has been added, which essentially means that
City Theatre will be producing two entirely separate short play festivals at the
same time.
Which all begs the question: Are the City Theatre folks masochists?
“We decided we didn’t have enough spare time,” jokes Stephanie Norman,
artistic director and co-founder of Summer Shorts.
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Stephanie
Norman, Summer Shorts co-founder and artistic director |
City Theatre touts Summer Shorts as the cool thing to do on a hot summer
night, and this year, they’re looking to make downtown Miami the coolest spot in
town. They’re also very conscious of the break in tradition of the Ring Theatre
to the new Carnival Center and are taking steps to ensure that the transition is
as painless as possible for their patrons.
“We believe that your cultural experience starts from the minute call the box
office and park your car and have something to eat on your way to the theatre,”
says Norman. “All of those factors can add up to a bad night out at the theatre
before the curtain even goes up.”
The biggest issue with the move might be the expense of parking downtown,
which can run $20 in lots. Parking at the Ring Theatre was free.
To that end, City Theatre has reserved two lots at Carnival Center plus valet
parking for the run of Summer Shorts, as well as arranged a deal with the
Radisson Hotel garage. Those coming to Summer Shorts will still have to pay,
but City Theatre is trying to make the parking situation as stress-free as
possible.
“We want people to know that when they come here they’ll be taken care of,”
says Norman.
As for any loss of intimacy in the change in venues, Norman believes that the
in-the-round staging at this year’s Summer Shorts will actually increase the
intimacy of the festival that might have been lost in the move.
“You are literally going to be sitting in the playing area and the set is
built around the audience,” says Norman. The in the round staging at Carnival
Center adds another challenge, in that the festival has to “flatten out” when
it’s presented at Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale in July.
“I’m more comfortable working in the round,” says Stuart Meltzer, who returns
for his fourth year as one of the directors of Summer Shorts. “The transition
from the Ring Theatre was very easy.”
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Kameshia
Duncan, Stephen Trovillion and Tom Wahl in Flour Cloud by Sarah Hammond
Photo: George Schiavonne |
Then there’s the food. Moveable Feast tapas dinner will be available on
Saturdays and Sundays when both Program A and Program B run together. On
Thursday and Friday nights when just one of the programs will be performed, City
Theatre and their Carnival Center caterers, Restaurant Associates, will be
setting up grills on Biscayne Boulevard for a summer dinner.
“Restaurants Associates is really rising to the occasion because they want to
make that Biscayne Boulevard/Carnival Center area a hot spot for the summer,”
says Norman, who believes that Summer Shorts is the next step in the
revitalization of downtown Miami which began with Carnival Center’s opening last
October.
“I think it shows off what downtown Miami is all about,” says Norman. “We’re
seeing a renaissance in downtown Miami. I think there’s a great energy that’s
taking place downtown. I think people are looking for something new and
something different and it’s exciting to think that the Carnival Center can be
all things to all people. It can bring in the world’s greatest talent and it
can be the place where City Theatre hangs up its shorts each year.”
The Play’s the Thing
City Theatre is six years into their partnership with Kentucky’s Actor’s
Theatre of Louisville and their Humana Festival, widely regarded as one of the
premier new play festivals in the country. Since partnering, the two theatres
share their play submissions, increasing the number of plays available to each
theatre. The end result, Norman says, is a plethora of really good plays.
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Tom Wahl,
one of the cast members of Summer Shorts |
“We are literally one organization as far as short plays are concerned,” says
Norman. “We could do Program A, B, C and D right now, because we have so much
good writing,” says Norman.
“The play is the thing, because it all starts with great writing,” says
Norman.
This year’s Summer Shorts features plays by three local playwrights: Susan J.
Westfall’s Uprising, Michael McKeever’s Splat! and Marco
Ramirez’s I Am Not Batman. Ramirez, who is also City Theatre’s literary
manager, won the prestigious Heideman Award at the Humana Festival, the highest
honor for short-form drama. While Summer Shorts has always showcased local
talent, this is the first year so many local playwrights have been chosen.
Uprising is about a single mom who tells her daughter about her
grandmother, a Holocaust survivor; I am Not Batman is about a streetwise
kid who lives out the ultimate Batman fantasy; Splat! takes its cue from
The Wizard of Oz, where some very angry little-people have to clean up
Dorothy’s not-so-little mess.
“It’s a morality play about Munchkins,” says McKeever. “What else do you
need?”
Tom Wahl, who appears in Splat!, enjoys the variety he gets to
experience in Summer Shorts.
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Elizabeth
Dimon, Erik Fabregat and Ceci Fernandez in Donde Esta Pedro Mano? by
Montserrat Mendez Photo: George Schiavonne |
“I’m in five plays, so I get to do five different characters,” Wahl says.
“That’s the draw for the actors.”
Wahl says three of his characters are comic but two, including a teenage boy,
are more dramatic. But short plays do not translate to shortcuts with
preparation.
“You still have to do the same work for a 10 minute play as with a two hour
play,” Wahl says. “You have to develop a full character and you have to
establish everything in 10 minutes. It’s a real challenge.”
This will be Wahl’s first time performing in the round, which he says
presents another kind of challenge for actors.
“The thing with being in the round is that you can never stand still for more
than five seconds,” says Wahl. “You always have to make minor adjustments.”
Family-Friendly Fun
In addition to the traditional Summer Shorts Festival that has become a
beloved highlight of the summer season, this year City Theatre is producing a
children’s version, Shorts for Kids, with different plays and a different cast
that will be presented at venues in Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Hialeah and
Sunrise. While Summer Shorts used to be more family-friendly, it’s gotten more
provocative, which Norman believes is the reflection of a changing world. In
order to keep including children and grow the festival, Shorts for Kids was
added.
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Stuart
Meltzer, who returns for his fourth year as a director for Summer Shorts |
Shorts for Kids is an expansion of City Theatre’s school outreach program,
which they’ve had since the beginning, believing that Summer Shorts’ “bite-size
morsels” are perfect for today’s short attention span kids.
“You can mount five or six plays and go to many different worlds and get a
taste for different kinds of writing, different frames of reference and
different genres and whet their appetites for exciting, intimate theatre,” says
Norman.
Summer Shorts director Stuart Meltzer and prop master Matt Glass are in
charge of Shorts for Kids. The plays are appropriate and tailored for children
age 10 and up, but Norman says they have what she calls the “Shrek” factor, that
there’s something for everyone in the plays.
“We looked for writing that would appeal to young audiences, and also create
the kind of fast and furious theatre fun that City Theatre is known for,” says
Glass.
Local playwright Lucas Leyva, is a Summer Shorts veteran whose play
Echolocators is part of Shorts for Kids. Ramirez also has a play in Shorts
for Kids, Regina Spector Wins the Science Fair.
“Many submissions that City Theatre gets are younger plays,” says Meltzer.
“They deal with many issues that kids go through---cultural issues, acceptance,
imagination, friends, death. Hopefully it’s going to reach a lot of kids.”
Summer Shorts
The 12th Annual Summer Shorts Festival, produced by City Theatre,
June 7 to July 8 at Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami
Call 305- 949-6722 or visit
carnivalcenter.org/summershorts.
July 12-15 at Amaturo Theatre at Broward Center for the Performing Arts in
Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-462-0222 or visit
browardcenter.org/summershorts
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Cast members
of Shorts for Kids |
Shorts for Kids
Coral Gables War Memorial Youth Center, 405 University Drive, Coral Gables Sat.,
June 16 and 23, 1 p.m., tickets $5, Box Office: 305-365-5400.
Flamingo Park, Miami Beach, 11th Street and Jefferson Avenue,
between the pool and tennis courts, Fri., July 6, 6 p.m. Free and open to the
public
Hialeah High School Auditorium, 251 East 47th Street, Hialeah,
Fri., June 22, 1:30 p.m. Free and open to the public.
Sunrise Civic Center Theater, 10610 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Sunrise. Fri.,
July 6, 11 a.m., Tickets: $4, Box Office: 954-747-4646
City Theatre, 305-365-5400 or
citytheatre.com.
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