After 30 years, Summer Shorts honors the people who built it

Stephen Trovillion and María Elena García appear in the third annual Summer Shorts festival in 1998, three years after City Theatre launched the short-play event at the University of Miami’s Ring Theatre. To celebrate 30 years, the festival features an afternoon preview and one-night event at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center on Saturday, June 13. (Photo Courtesy of City Theatre)

Thirty years after an ambitious theatrical idea at the University of Miami’s Ring Theatre grew into one of Miami’s most enduring theater traditions, City Theatre is taking time to honor the people who helped make it possible.

Unlike the festival’s traditional multi-performance run of affordable 10-minute plays, the nonprofit’s flagship “Summer Shorts” has been reimagined as a one-day celebration on Saturday, June 13 at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center. First, there’s a 2 p.m. preview performance. The premium-priced evening cabaret gala features 10 short plays with dinner and live music.

Honored at the evening event will be co-founder Susan J. Westfall and founding board chairman Alan H. Fein.

Honorees Alan H. Fein, Susan J. Westfall will be honored during the 30th anniversary celebration of Summer Shorts on June 13. The one-night event at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center pays tribute to the people who helped build one of Miami’s longest-running theater traditions. (Photo courtesy of City Theatre)

” ‘Summer Shorts’ traditionally runs for several weeks, but this year we asked ourselves how we could keep producing the work while adapting to the realities we’re facing,” Ramírez says. “We’re trying to balance what we can realistically afford with the experience audiences expect from ‘Summer Shorts.’ Presenting all 10 fully produced plays in a single day became a way to preserve the heart of the festival while working within those realities.”

Both performances feature the a lineup of 10 short plays, including three world premieres by Miami playwrights Paolo Benedict, Alize Medina and Paul Torres Wong.

“We wouldn’t have made it to 30 without our audiences and our artists,” says Ramírez, City Theatre’s executive director. “It feels like a celebration of the connection that we’ve been able to make through theater.”

According to Ramirez, the 2 p.m. preview features the same lineup of 10 fully produced short plays that will be performed at the evening event.

“The evening event serves as a fundraiser for City Theatre, while the afternoon performance provides a more accessible price point. Sometimes you have to think outside the box to keep making theater happen,” Ramirez says.

City Theatre executive director Gladys Ramírez, right, and artistic director Margaret Ledford are marking the 30th anniversary of Summer Shorts, the company’s flagship festival that has introduced generations of audiences and playwrights to short-form theater since 1996. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)

“Summer Shorts” has occupied several homes over the years, including the Ring Theatre, the Adrienne Arsht Center and, more recently, the Westchester Cultural Arts Center. The anniversary format also gave organizers an opportunity to recapture some of the communal spirit that shaped the festival’s earliest years.

“We wanted to capture the essence of what they created in 1996,” Ramírez says. “The sharing of a meal together, the conversation, the community. Those are the experiences people remember.”

Hola Hi performing at Summer Shorts in 2025. The group returns this year as City Theatre reimagines its flagship festival as a one-night, cabaret-style anniversary celebration. Pictured from left: Caleb Joseph, Angelina López Catledge and Paul Curtis. (Photo by Morgan Sophia Photography)

As City Theatre looks ahead, Ramírez hopes “Summer Shorts” continues to be more than a showcase for new plays.

“I hope it’s less of just a show and more of a community cultural experience that connects us with each other,” she says. “The plays will always be new. They’ll always be different. What makes ‘Summer Shorts’ special is all the people who get to be in the room and share that experience together.”

WHAT: City Theatre’s 30th Anniversary of “Summer Shorts.”

WHEN: 2 p.m. preview, 7 p.m. performance and dinner, Saturday, June 13.

WHERE: Westchester Cultural Arts Center at Tropical Park, 7930 SW 40th St., Miami.

COST: $25 general admission, preview matinee (no food or beverage included);evening, $175
general admission, $250 VIP, both include dinner.

INFORMATION: westchesterculturalartscenter.com or (305) 226-0030

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