Donde está Pedro Mano? by Montserrat Mendez. Photo by George Schiavone

Ah, the theater. To a few it’s simply the stage before the screen; to many others, however, it’s the place of seeing. Literally. Figuratively. Truthfully. We enter looking to discover ourselves, or perhaps, to rediscover something lost within lives.

City Theatre knows this, and for 12 years now they’ve made the stage their place — and ours. The company’s also smart enough to know that in this age of compromised attention spans, the staging’s best kept short, particularly if it’s gonna be bittersweet.

SunPost caught-up with Stephanie Norman, City Theatre’s co-founder and producing artistic director, on the eve of the annual run; here’s how she staged it:

How are the Shorts selected?

We read 1,200 plays that must be whittled down to two programs, program A and B. There is a play-reading committee that selects the plays; the first round is read during the year at Books & Books in Coral Gables, and the best from there become Summer Shorts.

Is it limited to South Florida playwrights?

We receive and read plays written by playwrights from all over the country. We are thrilled to have three South Florida playwrights represented this year: Marco Ramirez, [who wrote] I’m Not Batman, winner of the Heideman award, the nation’s largest award given to short plays; Susan Westfall, with a world premiere of her new play, Uprising; and the prolific Michael McKeever, with a world premiere of his short play Splat!

Who are some of the best-known past playwrights and where are they now?

Christopher Durang; Rolin Jones (writer for the Showtime series Weeds and nominated for a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow); John Robin Baitz (now writing for the TV show Brothers & Sisters); and Paul Rudnick (playwright and screenwriter of Jeffrey), to name just a few playwrights who have had their work premiered at Summer Shorts. This year Craig Wright, playwright, Foul Territory, wrote episodes for the hit TV Shows Lost and Six Feet Under.

What’s the state of theater in South Florida?

I’m very proud of the South Florida theater community. It is growing, with new companies being started, and some of the more established companies are producing provocative work. The scene is vibrant; our theaters are doing great work.

How does it rate with the rest of the country?

Some of the best new work is coming from South Florida. For instance, [Miami-raised] Nilo Cruz received the Pulitzer Prize a few years back for a play, Anna in the Tropics, premiered at the New Theatre, and this year the Heideman award for Short Plays went to South Florida resident Marco Ramirez. ... Several theater companies are developing new plays and are working very closely with South Florida artists to produce their work — [local playwright] Susan Westfall’s The Boy From Russia just had its world premiere at the Actor’s Playhouse; the Naked Stage adapted Romeo & Juliet; and Gables Stage Artistic Director Joe Adler is collaborating with Alice Jay for a world premiere of Smut.

How do you see it in five or 10 years?

We will only get better. Artists will continue to develop new work and start new companies complemented with our growing, and evolving audiences. The support is growing all the time.

Any young up-and-comers look promising?

South Florida is home to some great new talent. In this year’s Summer Shorts, theater-goers will get to see the work of actors Bechir Sylvain (co-founder, Ground Up & Rising theater company); Ceci Fernandez, recent graduate of New World School of the Arts; [and] Kameshia Duncan, recipient of a Carbonell Award for “Best New Artist.” A new playwright the community will get to see will be Marco Ramirez … [And there’s] Matthew Glass — faculty, New World School of the Arts, director of the Short Cuts for Kids theater festival and props master for Summer Shorts.

Are you excited about moving Summer Shorts to the Carnival Center?

I’m so excited. This is a big move for us; we’re now the resident company in the region’s premier venue.

What kind of venues has it been presented in before?

For the past 11 seasons, we’ve been at the Ring Theatre on the University of Miami campus, and for the past five years, we’ve produced our summer season at the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

If you could have one playwright, living or dead, debut a play in South Florida, who would it be?

We would love Neil Simon to pen a short play for us.

Summer Shorts is presented from this Thursday through Sunday, July 8 at the Studio Theater at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; and from July 12 to 15 at the Amaturo Theater of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Show times vary. Program A is presented on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Program B is presented on Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets are $35. Dining packages are available with some performances for an additional price. Call the Carnival Center Box Office at 305-949-6722 or go to www.carnivalcenter.org. The Broward Center box office can be reached at 954-462-0222, or visit www.browardcenter.org. Information about City Theatre is available at 305-365-5400 or www.citytheatre.com.

Hood is online at www.therealjohnhood.com.

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.

 

Summer Shorts Summaries PROGRAM A: Uprising by Susan Westfall. Miami’s own Susan Westfall brings us a close-to-home piece where a single mom tells her daughter about her grandmother, a Holocaust survivor. Foul Territory by Craig Wright. If you got slugged in the face with foul balls every time, every single time, would you do your best to hide from them or would you accept them with open arms and a bleeding nose? This play by one of America’s leading TV writers (Lost, Six Feet Under) becomes an unlikely lesson in taking life’s pain in stride. What I Learned From Grizzly Bears by Jessica Lind. A career-woman talks endlessly about the possibility of her trip to study Grizzly habitats; all the while her husband lives out their lives for them, childbirth and all. The Sons of Mickey by Jim Fitzmorris. When the world’s biggest Magic Kingdom fan — a man in his late 30s — decides to get an unlicensed Mickey tattoo, he realizes that this mouse (and this mouse’s cult) has one of the darkest underbellies imaginable, even under those bright red shorts. Ron Bobby Had Too Big a Heart by Rolin Jones. Two All-American high school seniors hit the road in blood-covered gowns after things don’t go so right at the prom. Suspension by William Orem. A play about two troubled teens who overcome fear, rejection and even medication to make a real connection, and find friendship and love. 96 Stitches by Sarah Hammond. The Tailor and the Tailor’s Wife prepare the most glorious gowns for Wanda, the biggest diva of them all, but there’s something different about this dress: This one is the most glorious ever, and the most deadly. PROGRAM B: Ambivalent by Joshua James. A man in an airport terminal announces that he knows that the plane he’s about to board is going to explode. People react in a careful dissection of pathos, courage and fear. Practicing by Rinne Groff. A magical play by one of America’s leading playwrights about brotherhood, boyhood and the power of dreaming. Flour Cloud by Sarah Hammond. Two bakers and a cute baker’s assistant have just seen their bakery explode, bags full of burnt muffins and a cloud of flour stand before them. Then the baker’s assistant decides to do something quite unexpected. Splat! By Michael McKeever. The South Florida playwright comic send-up of The Wizard of Oz opens with a couple of very angry little-people who have been left to clean up Dorothy’s not-so-little mess. Donde esta Pedro Mano? By Monserrat Mendez. Somewhere between Federico Garcia Lorca and the most awesomely bad telenovela you’ve ever seen, we meet Rosario Soledad, who is waiting, quite melodramatically, for her lover to return. I Am Not Batman By Marco Ramirez. This year’s Heideman Award winner at Actors Theatre of Louisville is a Miami native. In this play, a streetwise kid with a stomach full of grocery-store-brand macaroni and cheese lives out the ultimate Batman fantasy. Playtime by Kent R. Brown. Nicole is a troubled runaway. Maureen is her troubled mother. A realistic investigation of what it means to be on the low end of the totem pole, the dark, gritty underground of not-so-perfect America. Angle of Attack by John Walch. Three guy-guys sit through a dreadful poetry night at a wine bar in support of their friend and his terrifyingly bad writing. Synopses provided by Summer Shorts 07.