Evento

Shel's Shorts: 14 Short Plays by Shel Silverstein

In addition to thousands of songs, dozens of books, and innumerable illustrations, the incomparable Shel Silverstein also penned more than a hundred plays infused with the same wicked sense of humor that made him famous.

This February, Project: Theater is proud to bring 14 of these hilarious, dark, naughty plays to the 78th Street Theater Lab in Shel's old stomping ground, New York City.

Each of the shows revolves around a sign, either literal or figurative: Two plumbers discuss the symbolism behind their erotic dreams, old friends ponder their fate when confronted with a portal with a sign that reads "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here," an employer becomes enraged with an employee who leaves an explicit sign informing patrons that he has gone to take a..., a man is becomes obsessed with the meaning behind a sign at his lunch counter that says "No Skronking" until he himself is accused of having the potential of being a "skronker"--whatever that is, and many more! In true Silverstein fashion, each play twists and turns into the relm of the unexpected and absurd as the characters experience what happens when the rules are either followed or broken.

Directed by Project: Theater Artistic Director Joe Jung*, along with James Barry*, Tara Franklin* and Andrew McLeod, "Shel's Shorts" will also feature the talents of Mike Baker*, Amanda Byron*, Brian Frank, Amy Hattemer, John Hashopp*, Christine Piche, Ben Rosenblatt, Jenny Schutzman, Jacob Seelbach, Brian Sell and Joe Therrien.

Infused with live music, transforming scenery, and a creative spirit hailed by the New York Times as "entertaining" and "amusing", Project: Theater's goal is to produce compelling, engaging, entertaining, theater based on works that are new, new-to-New York, or lapsed from the New York Theater scene. Last year's production of Archibald MacLeish's pulitzer prize winning "J.B." was described by an Innovative Theater Award judge as "An incredible show. The piece moved fluidly and beautifully through a variety of different times and places, and the ensemble was remarkably strong..."