Summer Shorts 2019: Series A NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (15)
See it if The theme running through the series is death and the playwrights and actors handle the topic with grace, humor and respect.
Don't see it if you do not like short plays performed back to back; you prefer large, colorful productions. Don't let the topic scare you away, well done.
See it if you want to see 3 loosely connected 1-acts about our obsession with death/illness/suicide, all well-acted & well-staged with mixed results.
Don't see it if ur looking for a full-length narrative or some lite summer fare. [Despite the death theme, it's still an engrossing & entertaining 90 min.]
See it if On-death-and-dying triptych. Some bad news conveyed, then an attempted leap, and then, a couple addicted to feeling ill sing "Take On Me."
Don't see it if That rarity in an evening of shorts--All are duds. Or as they put it:"Something marches inexorably toward us." Exactly that.
See it if you like shorts of varying quality. 1st is tedious, 2nd somewhat disappointing, 3rd very odd but absorbing & disturbing. A mixed bag.
Don't see it if you prefer a full-length play or aren't interested in challenging or potentially disturbing material.
See it if you like one-act plays and aren't put off by the theme of death. None of the three plays hits the mark.
Don't see it if you are looking for something original or stirring. Read more
See it if You are willing to sit through two one act plays that are not very good but you do get the pay off of the one in the middle being great
Don't see it if If you are not interested in seeing three plays that all deal with sad and unfortunate situations Read more
See it if You want to see a show with great acting. The performers were great. The middle show was written well.
Don't see it if You are expecting great scripts. Two of the shows seem to be written with the idea that they are deep and profound, but really miss the mark
See it if You want a selection of plays with some interesting ideas and quality actors scattered throughout.
Don't see it if You don't want the good moments to be tarnished by some very dull writing and flat acting in other parts of the shows.
Critic Reviews (8)
"At This Theater Festival, Death Crouches in the Wings. Bereavement and self-destruction stalk the plays in Series A of this year’s 'Summer Shorts Festival' in New York."
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"'SUMMER SHORTS' at 59E59 Theaters is an Engaging Seasonal Theatrical Event."
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"A double helix of mendacity and malice; the kind of people one crosses the street to avoid, they would fit comfortably in nearly any novel by Ruth Rendell. Thanks to Baron's icily precise writing and a couple of first-rate performances by fresh faces, Here I Lie makes these human train wrecks seem oddly seductive."
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"Saving the best - and most controversial - for last, the provocative Neil LaBute once again stirs the pot with 'Appomatox.'"
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"Series A of this year's 'Summer Shorts' is unified around the theme of death and dying and how it affects the living. Lest you think that this sounds morbid, the three provocative one-act plays that make up this first program are so beautifully handled that this is a superior theatrical evening."
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"Although the theme of death that threads through each play might seem incongruous with the sunny days of summer, this memento mori triptych does offer something better than sunshine: a penetrating gaze into the human condition from three different authors."
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"Darker than usual for 'Summer Shorts,' all three plays in 'Series A' tackle suicide and illness…the standout by far is Courtney Baron's attention-grabbing Here I Lie…By exploring the motives of two woefully misguided...people, Baron creates immensely compelling writing."
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"The results are a decidedly jumbled bag…Each deals in some way with suicide (possible, potential, and planned), but little else connects them…[In 'Here I Lie'] even the implausible comes to seem plausible and you appreciate the conviction with which such mendacity can hold your interest."
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