For theatergoers, one of the pleasures of a Miami summer—which begins in April and runs approximately through October (if we’re lucky)—is the air-conditioned escapism of Summer Shorts. Hosted at the Adrienne Arsht Center and produced by City Theatre for the past 22 years, the program’s formula is as familiar and dependable as an IHOP breakfast: eight shorts culled from hundreds of entries, each running no
more than 10 minutes, with a bias toward the outrageous.
There’s no reason this eccentric assortment couldn’t also work in the wintertime—in City Theatre’s verbiage, “for those nights when South Florida temperatures plunge below 70.” Hence the resurrection of Winter Shorts, Summer Shorts’ chilly companion, which City Theatre last produced in 2001. Its winter revival is part of the company’s fullest season yet, an initiative by recently appointed artistic director Margaret Ledford to expand City Theatre’s footprint.
“I am coming on as a full-time, full-fledged artistic director, and trying to grow City,” says Ledford, who has directed for many of South Florida’s most esteemed companies. “We decided Winter Shorts would be a perfect thing to add to this season. We’d love to make it an anchor to the Summer Shorts program in the winter.”
The relaunched presentation will have a more consistent thematic focus than its sister show, with all of the plays addressing the holidays. Although some of the shorts are still in negotiation, Ledford is excited to include Oy Vey Maria, Mark Harvey Levine’s cheeky nativity comedy, featuring a surprise appearance by baby Jesus’ nudnik grandmother at the manger. (Sample dialogue: “Jesus?! I thought we agreed on Myron! What kind of a name is Jesus? No one’s going to know he’s Jewish!”)
One show will address the Thanksgiving holiday, focusing on a pair of lonely souls who meet at a matinee movie on Thanksgiving Day. But most of the plays aren’t so sweet, even when they initially seem to be: Ashley Lauren Rogers’s Becky’s Christmas Wish is about an elf that visits the angelic title character on Christmas Eve to grant her most desired wish: to kill her sister. “You get a little of naughty and nice leading into the holiday season,” says Ledford.
As with Summer Shorts, the winter program showcases the dynamism of an ace South Florida ensemble, whose actors transform into new personae at the drop of a jingle bell. Ledford cites Irene Adjan as a quintessential example: At this year’s Summer Shorts, the veteran actress played an internet stalker, an eager Girl Scout, a teenage boy, a sociopathic office worker and an envious novelist.
“I try to look for actors who are versatile, that you believe feel, look and act different than [in] the show before,” says Ledford. “It’s great when someone who is known for their dramatic chops comes to Summer Shorts, and everybody finds out they’re funny—and vice versa.”
Perhaps the main difference between the seasonal compilations is brevity. Ledford plans to run Winter Shorts without an intermission. “We want a straight 80- to 85-minute program, because everyone’s time during the holidays is crunched,” she says. “We want to give them some good times, let them think a little bit and send them on their merry way.”
Winter Shorts is at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts Dec 7–23.
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