One Night, Seven Plays in TWS’ Super-Sized Directors’ Workshop

Most nights at the , attendees see only one play. This weekend, they’ll have a chance to take in seven—free save for accepted donations—in the Theatre’s “Shorts for a Summer Evening.”

Participants in the Theatre’s “Directors' Workshop” program work with both veteran and neophyte actors in small casts (this year, four or fewer per play,) sometimes sharing actors between plays, to present the seven ten-minute productions, mostly from non-published scripts.

“Hopefully [attendees] enjoy them all,” said Cal Turner, one of this year’s seven directors. “There may be a couple that any individual doesn’t care for, but across the night there’s going to be something that you like. You’re going to come away having had a good time.”

This year’s plays, in order, are Driving With the Murphys (directed by Turner,) The First Fireworks (Alex Broun,) Ready or Not, It’s Time we Got Started (Jack Calvert,) Do These Jeans Make My Butt Look Massive? (Judy DiVita,) Day Trip to Agra (Ed Wavak,) No Skranking (George Dempsey) and The Kiss (Mike Huth.) Most are comedies.

Huth, of La Grange Park, is the only first-time director in the group. The Workshop prepared him well for the challenge of directing, he said, although one unique experience for him was the difference between rehearsals and acting in front of a live audience, apparent the first time his Kiss was performed for the casts of the other plays.

“The biggest thrill of it is getting an audience and seeing how they react to it,” Huth said. “It is a great thrill to do something for people and have them appreciate it. And if that appreciation is drama, laughter, it doesn’t matter, as long as you know you’ve gotten to them.”

Respectable-sized audiences do typically show up for the plays, which have production values on par with anything else presented in the Cattell Theatre.

Western Springs’ own Calvert said directing a 10-minute show was a bit easier than one of a half hour, an hour or longer—fewer moments to depict—but that the amount of effort put into those moments was by all means equal.

“Nobody ever said that a small canvas of Monet wasn’t a wonderful piece of art because the canvas was too small,” Calvert said. “What you’re creating in a short play is very much like a longer play. You still need to create those moments that people will enjoy whether it’s a serious play or not. Regardless of the length of the play, it’s the same art.”

The Summer of Shorts festival plays this weekend at the Cattell Wing on June 21-23 at 8:00 p.m. and June 24 at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free; donations are accepted.