Summer Shorts (2017)

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 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! 

Series A

Playing God 
By Alan Zweibel 
Directed by Maria Mileaf 

With Bill Buell, Flora Diaz, Dana Watkins, Welker White 

Unhappy that a brazen doctor changed the due date of a pregnant woman's baby because he's going on vacation, God decides to pay him a visit to put him in his place.

Jack
By Melissa Ross 
Directed by Mimi O'Donnell

With Quincy Dunn-Baker and Claire Karpen 

Maggie and George and Jack have been inseparable best friends since college. But when Maggie and George divorce, Jack is the only thing holding them together. Until suddenly he isn't. A play about growing up, growing apart, and letting go of your first love.

Acolyte 
By Graham Moore 
Directed by Alexander Dinelaris 

With Orlagh Cassidy, Ted Koch, Sam Lilja, Bronte Englandnelson 

A young, married couple who are devotees of Ayn Rand find themselves in over their heads when one of her weekly Saturday night discourses on philosophy takes a surprisingly personal turn.

Series B

Break Point
By Neil LaBute
Directed by Neil LaBute 

With John Garrett Greer and Keilyn Durrel Jones

Two world-class tennis players meet on the eve of their historic semi-final match at the French Open. Soon their causal camaraderie morphs into an elusive game of cat-and-mouse. Is it just a case of psychological warfare or is something darker going? Break Point is a funny yet sobering take of masculinity, competition, sportsmanship and the great American drive to succeed.

A Woman
By Chris Cragin-Day 
Directed by Kel Haney 

With Mark Boyett and Jennifer Ikeda 

Kim's church doesn't allow women to be elders. For nine years she's tried to get a woman elected and for nine years she's failed. This year, though, she's not taking "no" for an answer - regardless of the cost. But when the newly appointed pastor decides to call her bluff, Kim must decide what's most important to her as a Christian, as a progressive and as a woman.

Wedding Bash 
By Lindsey Kraft and Andrew Leeds 
Directed by J.J. Kandel

With Georgia Ximenes Lifsher, Donovan Mitchell, Rachel Napoleon, and Andy Powers 

When a newly married couple invites their two friends over for a post-wedding rehash, things get tense when it becomes clear that maybe people didn't love the wedding as much as they said they did.