Summer Shorts 2016

Show Info

Applauded by The New York Times as "shamelessly clever and deeply satisfying!" this acclaimed festival of new American short plays from some of the country's top playwrights returns to 59E59 Theaters for a tenth consecutive season! Representing some of today's best writing, directing, and acting talents, Summer Shorts celebrates theater, summer, and the short form.

The festival's two separate series of three plays each will run in rotating repertory and offer a diverse range of voices, styles, and subject matter.

Series A

The Helpers 
By Cusi Cram
Directed by Jessi D. Hill

With Maggie Burke and David Deblinger

Jane and Nate have a complicated and thorny past. Jane used to help Nate but now that the tables are turned can Jane take the leap and let Nate help her? A bittersweet comedy about risk, kindness, and how difficult it can be to let people in.

After The Wedding
By Neil LaBute
Directed by Maria Mileaf

With Frank Harts and Elizabeth Masucci

On their anniversary, a married couple recall their ceremony and their honeymoon and the effect that one evening has had on their life together. The play is a dueling account on a single night and a dreamscape that harbors a very fragile moral line at its center.

This Is How It Ends  
By A. Rey Pamatmat 
Directed by Ed Sylvanus Iskandar

with Patrick Cummings, Rosa Gilmore, Nadine Malouf, Sathya Sridharan, Chinaza Uche, Kerry Warren

How would you spend your last day on Earth? Jake is about to find out, because his all-too-perfect roommate Annie has just broken some seriously disturbing news. She's the Anti-christ, her co-workers are the Four Horseman, and the end is most definitely nigh. A hilarious and touching new play about life, love, and making the most of the time we're given.

Series B

The Dark Clothes Of Night 
By Richard Alfredo 
Directed by Alexander Dinelaris

With Sinem Meltem Dogan, James Rees, Dana Watkins

Burke Sloane is a hard-knuckle Film Noir private eye, caught in a web of perfumed intrigue. Rob Marlowe is a professor of Film Semiotics, toggling between gender politics and fanboy fantasies. Their paths collide in a kaleidoscope of shifting identities, femmes fatales and deadly horticulture. A doppelgänger whodunit.

Queen
By Alexander Dinelaris  
Inspired by The Woman Who Came at Six O'Clock by Gabriel Garcia Márquez 

With Casandera M.J. Lollar, Chris McFarland, Saverio Tuzzolo

Everyday at six o'clock a prostitute named Queen comes into Joe's restaurant for a free meal. And, everyday for years the routine has been the same. But today isn't everyday.

Black Flag 
By Idris Goodwin 
Directed by Logan Vaughn

With Francesca Carpanini, Suzette Azariah Gunn, Ruy Iskandar

Sydney is from Georgia. Deja is from Detroit. These two new dorm-mates cannot wait to start their freshman year together. That is, until Sydney decides to decorate their room with a little piece of "Southern pride." Now, all bets are off. Black Flag is a biting new play about allegiance, censorship and the price of honoring the past.