CITY THEATREʼS SILVER ANNIVERSARY SUMMER SHORTS FESTIVAL Postponed until 2022

City Theatre and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts have announced that they are postponing their Silver Anniversary of the Summer Shorts Festival due to the continuing caution and safety restrictions associated with the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic.

The Summer Shorts Festival in June 2022 will be a long-awaited milestone celebration for City Theatre, the short plays and musicals the company is nationally known for producing, and the artists who collaborate and contribute to the eventʼs enormous appeal.

A unique annual regional event that kicks off the South Florida summer theater season, the Summer Shorts Festival, will be produced in the two-program format the company inaugurated in 1996, with a twist. Program A will feature “All New Works” culled from submissions of the City Theatre National Short Playwriting Contest, special commissions, and discoveries among arts partners, including Concord/Samuel Frenchʼs celebrated Off-Off Broadway Festival. Program B is planned as a “Best of the Fest” collection of favorite short plays and musicals curated from 24 seasons past. A limited schedule of the Summer Shorts marathon is the opportunity for theatre-goers to see Program A and Program B back to back on one day.

City Theatreʼs Artistic Director Margaret M. Ledford said, “We have been itching to mount this Silver Anniversary production since 2020, selecting two excellent lively programs of plays and musicals. These programs will feature an incredible ensemble of amazingly talented performers to enhance the storytelling and bring life to the characters, deftly guided by many of the regionʼs top directors and enhanced by the areaʼs most skillful designers. Weʼre eager to safely bring audiences and artists back together in the theatre for the Summer Shorts Festival once again.” City Theatre Founder and Literary Director Susan Westfall added, “the Summer Shorts Festival is a Do Not Miss experience for theatre-goers entertained by the fast & furious and nimble theatricality of ten-minute plays that are hilarious, provocative, poignant, and always surprising. Among them expect fresh, new examples of art reflecting and interpreting a world changed since Summer Shorts 2019”.

City Theatre is also pleased to resume its popular Family Musical as part of the Summer Shorts Festival, its own production of Bob Marleyʼs Three Little Birds, which includes much of the reggae giantʼs most memorable songs. It will be a treat for the entire family to enjoy.

Alongside three productions, the Summer Shorts Festival will include a reimagined series of ancillary programming for the CityWrights/Industry Weekend, with readings, creative and professional sessions for regional and national artists and theatre professionals, and free activities for audiences. Expect surprises as more festival news is announced in the coming months.

For updates, go to www.citytheatre.com.