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 an eleventh consecutive season! Featuring two separate series (A & B) of three plays each running in rotating repertory, Summer Shorts offers a diverse range of voices, styles, and subject matter. See the calendar below!

The Summer Shorts 2017 festival of new American short plays brings to 59E59 Theaters the work of some of the best American writers around today.  Award-winning writers of film, TV, and stage provide a bevy of goodies to delight, inspire, and downright impress. Series B of the festival presents brave, unique, and thought-provoking one-act plays from writers who know how to initiate a scenario, keep you interested, provide an arc and then skillfully bring the story all back around to a satisfying finish. A Woman, written by Chris Cragin-Day and directed by Kel Haney, explores the notion of a woman in a powerful position in the religious field, as well as the implications for long-time friends who are now placed on opposite sides of a debate.  Cragin-Day keeps the language natural and the tension unexpected.  Haney’s direction keeps us intrigued and visually interested throughout. Wedding Bash, written by Lindsey Kraft and Andrew Leeds and directed by J.J. Kandel, is an engaging piece with excellent performances from the entire cast. A new bride and groom discuss how their destination wedding was the “wedding of a lifetime,” while their invited guests end up verbalizing what most of u …Read more