City Theatre (@citytheatremia) and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County (@arshtcenter) are proud to present WINTER SHORTS, America’s Short Play Winter Festival. Playing December 7-23 in the intimate Carnival Studio Theater (Ziff Ballet Opera House) and led by City Theatre Artistic Director Margaret M. Ledford, WINTER SHORTS is the brand new festive version of City Theatre’s renowned Summer Shorts: America’s Short Play Festival and will include a jolly program of short plays – each a complete work totaling 8-10 minutes long.
Tickets to WINTER SHORTS are $39-$54*. Tickets are available now and may be purchased through the Adrienne Arsht Center Box Office by calling (305) 949-6722, or online at arshtcenter.org.
Penned by the country’s leading playwrights and performed by a company of South Florida theater all-stars, WINTER SHORTS offers theatergoers an evening filled with hilarity, both naughty and nice.
WINTER SHORTS features the following plays:
this movie by Amanda Keating
On a lonely Thanksgiving Day at the movies, two strangers discover an unlikely bond including family dysfunction, burgers, and a love of film.
The Miracle of Chanukah by Sheri Wilner
Marilyn has an annoying Chanukah ritual to acknowledge the holiday’s true meaning; each person must talk about a miracle that happened to them during the year. When her son’s new girlfriend describes a miracle that’s too fantastic for the others to believe, everyone suddenly confronts the hilarious limits of their faith.
Becky’s Christmas Wish by Ashley Lauren Rogers
Little Becky is visited by the Christmas Elf, who promises to grant her one special holiday wish – until he hears what she wants!
Santa Doesn’t Live Here Anymore by Patrick Gabridge
Mom and Dad have never gotten around to telling Jeffrey that there’s no Santa. He’s 30, and he still believes. This Christmas the truth comes out about Santa and it isn’t the only family secret that threatens to ruin the holiday season.
Oy Vey Maria by Mark Harvey Levine
It’s the very first Christmas, and Mary forgot to invite her mother to the birth of Baby Jesus. When Mom arrives, she’s armed with a brisket, a healthy dose of guilt, and some advice for Mary on Jewish motherhood.
Feliz Navidad by Staci Swedeen
A harried holiday shopper is frantically seeking a specific doll for her niece, while cursing and bemoaning the stresses of the season. The only clerk in the store can only speak Spanish, but with patience and humor, assists the shopper. Upon finding the right gift, the shopper realizes what she was looking for all along.
Fly, Baby by Gina Femia
It’s New Year’s Eve and Ariel wants to watch the fireworks on her rooftop, while Miranda wants to fly. Their resolutions turn serious and dangerous when Ariel steps to the ledge. Santa and the Toothfairy, at wits ends over the state of the world, watch from the North Pole hoping they can still be of help.
Occupy Hallmark by Cassie M. Seinuk
Moose and Salty – nurse grudges, broken hearts and share a disdain for Corporate America – camp out in front of a greeting card store to scare off the Valentine’s Day shoppers. Over beers the insults fly, and as they share a hatred of all things heart-shaped, they discover maybe there is someone out there for everyone.
About The Cast:
ALEX ALVAREZ was last seen in City Theatre’s Summer Shorts 2016 at the Arsht Center. Other South Florida theatre credits include: The Humans, Dry Powder, Stalking the Bogeyman, The Motherf**ker with the Hat, and Superior Donuts (Gablestage), The Goldberg Variations, and Daniel’s Husband (Island City Stage), Domestic Animals (Palm Beach Dramaworks), Mud, A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay on the Death of Walt Disney, Or, and A Map of Virtue (Thinking Cap Theatre), Trust (Zoetic Stage at the Arsht Center), Visiting Hours (New Theatre), The Unseen (Promethean Theatre) and Melisma (Arca Images). Alex studied acting at California Institute of the Arts and the Larry Moss Studio. Alex is a Carbonell Award winner and a five-time nominee, a Silver Palm Award winner, and a New Times Best Supporting Actor.
DAVE COREY was part of the 2004 cast of City Theatre’s Summer Shorts. Dave retired from 50 years of broadcasting this past April, but has kept busy working part-time for Insight for the Blind, and was seen in The Legend of Georgia McBride at GableStage this past June. On TV and films, Dave has appeared in Burn Notice, Walker, Texas Ranger, Analyze This, and productions going way back to Miami Vice.
DIANA GARLE’s recent City Theatre appearances include: Short Cuts Tour 2016 and 2017. Other theatre credits: The Humans (GableStage), Juliet Among The Changelings (Lost Girls Theater); Sound Bite: South Beach and Hip Hop Won’t Save You (The Project [theatre]); Hedda Gabler and Three Sisters (Miami Theater Center); and The Plough and The Starsat O’Reilly Theatre Company in Dublin. Recent film credits include: Band of Brothers, Scenes from Our Young Marriage, For Family’s Sake (Best Narrative Short Film at New York City International Film Festival). Diana was featured in the January 2016 edition of American Theatre Magazine as one of the “7 Theatre Workers You Should Know.” She is a teaching artist at Miami Theater Center, Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Arts for Learning.
JOVON JACOBS holds a B.F.A in acting and is a proud participant in the South Florida theater community. He was recently seen in The Good Girl with Primal Forces. Some of his recent credits include: Informed Consent (Gablestage), All The Way (Actors’ Playhouse), Motherland at Theatre Lab, The Mystery of Love & Sex (Arts Garage), Fences & Five Guys Named Moe (M Ensemble Theatre), Them Beaux (Miami Theater Center), The Violet Hour (Broward Center), Map of Virtue (Thinking Cap Theater) Broadwayworld.com Award, Hip Hop Won’t Save You (The Project [theatre]), S4K & Summer Shorts 2013 (Adrienne Arsht Center), A Man Puts On A Play (Naked Stage) and Home Sweet Funeral Home (The Alliance Theatre).
RITA JOE is fresh off her performance in The Mighty Gents at the Wendell A. Narcisse Performing Arts Theatre. With a B.F.A. in theatre from the University of Central Florida, Rita has had the opportunity to work as a performer at Walt Disney World and has enjoyed performing on stages around the world. A few of Rita Joe’s performance credits include: Island City Stage’s The Submission, for which she was nominated for a Carbonell Award for Best Actress, Terror and Brothers of the Dust, for which she won a Sliver Palm Award for her performance, Shorts Gone Wild 5, Shorts Gone Wild 4, Flyin West, The Piano Lesson, Hustlers, Sisters, For Colored Girls, The Good Woman of Setzuan, Romeo and Juliet, S/HE, Once on this Island, and Home. For more information, please visit iamritajoe.com.
MARGOT MORELAND is an original company member of Summer Shorts and Winter Shorts. Margot was last seen in It Shoulda Been You (Actors’ Playhouse), Sunday in the Park with George (Zoetic Stage at the Arsht Center), Sister Act (Wick), and Mamma Mia (Theatre Aspen). She is a four-time Carbonell recipient for Ruthless!, Heartbeats, Tomfoolery, and Annie. Other favorites include: I Love You….Now Change, Zombie Prom, many years of Shear Madness (Kennedy Center and US), Sondheim on Sondheim, Les Miserables, She Loves Me, Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy, Fat Pig, and the world premieres of Stripped (Zoetic Stage at the Arsht Center), Dr. Radio, Bombshells, Unlikely Heroes, and Motherhood.
