Summer Shorts 2019: Series B NYC Reviews and Tickets

76%

(13 Ratings)

Positive

92%

Mixed

Negative

Members say

Relevant, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Slow, Absorbing

About the Show

This annual festival of new American short plays returns to 59E59 for its 13th consecutive year. The festival's two series consist of three plays each.

From the show:

Series B

PROVIDENCE

By NANCY BLEEMER

On the eve of her sister-in-law's wedding, a woman returns to her husband's boyhood home. Tossing and turning next to him in his too-small single bed, they question love, marriage and why there are no all-night drug stores in Providence.

APPOMATTOX

By NEIL LABUTE

It’s a perfect day in a big park near a big city and two friends get together for lunch and to play catch. Instead, they begin a discussion about life and history and soon find themselves in a conversational minefield from which they may never return.

LUCKY

By SHARR WHITE

What's the first thing you say after six years? Just on the outskirts of town, in room 11B of The Royale Motor Lodge, Phil Granger is stripping off his wet shirt as Meredith, his wife, is rushing through the rain towards him. Lucky is the moment they meet.

Show-Score Member Reviews (13)

Refreshing, Great acting, Thought-provoking, Resonant, Absorbing

See it if I liked all 3 plays, with a common theme of surface connections giving way to something deeper. You can’t get to the deeper level w/o risk.

Don't see it if I did not find the first play too slow (intense pauses) or the 2nd too light. The 3rd was the most topical w/sharp ideas. Read more

Great writing (labute), Provocative (appomattox), Trifling (providence), Dull (lucky)

See it if u want to see LaBute at his provocative, sardonic best in a well-acted, smartly-written, politically-charged, dramatically-tense seriocomedy

Don't see it if you're not willing to slog through two tedious, hollow sketches by White & Bleemer to get to LaBute's heady, challenging, worthwhile payoff. Read more

Mixed, Great acting, Absorbing

See it if You want a diverse set of shows that are all well acted and explore interesting concepts.

Don't see it if You don't mind the inconsistent quality of the shows.

Thought-provoking, Slow, Relevant, Great acting, Uneven

See it if you like one-act plays. They are wildly uneven. The first is tedious, the second slight. The Neil LaBute play makes the evening worthwhile.

Don't see it if you prefer full-evening plays with greater character development. Read more

Relevant, Great acting, Entertaining, Clever, Ambitious

See it if If you like shorts, about 30 min each. Not as good as last two years, but enjoyable still.The shorts go bye quickly so if one is not oknext.

Don't see it if If you do not like short plays. Some are better than others.

Two good, one bad, A mixed bag, Great acting, Funny

See it if you like short one-acts of varying quality. 1st play is a slog, but the 2nd & 3rd are comedies with thematic focus + good writing & acting.

Don't see it if you prefer full-length plays and not a mixed bag of shorts. The last play takes on issues of race, so if that's not your bag, so be it.

Thought-provoking, Slow, Relevant, Cliched, Disappointing

See it if Triptych on caring:One where a couple might re-connect.and another, a couple might disconnect,and then another, friends weigh cost of amends

Don't see it if This, Series B, contains the LaBute entry, and is slightly better than A, but overall, the 13th Summer Shorts Festival is an unlucky year.

Entertaining, Slow, Overrated, Uneven, Thought-provoking

See it if you like one acts and are looking for a varied evening of wildly different shows of varying quality.

Don't see it if you expect all terrific shows & like your plays fully realized. The first is excruciating, the 2nd fun & light &the third very interesting

Critic Reviews (9)

"In 3 Short Plays, the Art of Making Up and Breaking Up. The second program of 'Summer Shorts 2019,' at 59E59 Theaters, is a patchy evening including a contribution by Neil LaBute."
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"The conclusion of war brings neither happiness nor peace in Lucky, Sharr White's tense and mysterious two-hander, which kicks off Series B of this festival of one-acts on a strong, satisfying note…[this is] a better-than-average edition of 'Summer Shorts,' a series that continues to display its vitality."
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★★★ "'Neil LaBute Delivers a Typically Toxic Comedy.' A smart topical comedy outshines lesser works in an annual off-Broadway festival"
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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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"While the premises are interesting, all three plays are a bit too long and could use some cutting or rewriting. As always the acting in this long-running festival created by producing artistic director J.J. Kandel is superb despite the plays' deficiencies."
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70% "This year’s crop of 'Summer Shorts' is a ho-hum, hum drum sort of an evening. At 'Series B' the evening featured three plays, each with a solid core of an intriguing idea that was then dressed up with too many words and not enough action."
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"Neither of the first two plays…succeeds in making you feel that what's happening really matters much…'Appomattox'…condenses the issue of…reparations into a dynamically tense, thoroughly dramatic, politically charged, and rhetorically informative experience."
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"The 'Summer Shorts Series B' showcases three plays that deal with the gulf that can separate people in relationships….The evening gets off to a shaky start, with the plodding Lucky…Bleemer's Providence [is] a humorous though melancholy look at a seemingly happy marriage…LaBute's gripping Appomattox concludes the evening."
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Trailer

Creative team