She Shorts is a Refreshingly Raucous Riot
The perfect afternoon in South Florida was just right for
this immersive theatre experience at The Vanguard Theatre. She Shorts, a short comedy produced in collaboration with City
Theatre and Thinking Cap Theatre, highlights stories by the female-identifying.
These comedy shorts hit all the right feels throughout the matinée
presentation. The Vanguard is a charming black box theater, reminiscent of the
found-spaces in NYC, but with South Florida flair…and much cleaner, much more
accessible, and did I mention…they have beer and wine? Beer and wine that you
are encouraged to enjoy in the theater, along with several other options
for refreshment and snacking pleasure, including popcorn. Those of us long
initiated with musical performance in the theater nearly started to weep at the
overwhelming beauty of options. My afternoon suddenly got even better, and,
beer-in-hand, I found a seat near a friend and settled in.
Webster’s Bitch, written by Jacqueline Bircher, and
directed by Gladys Ramirez, gets off to a rough start as the actors
settle in to the afternoon, but as the script blooms, the audience begins to
grapple with the question at hand: Does context and association matter in
regard to certain words? In this short, the team at Webster’s dictionary
grapples with the word, Bitch. Before the audience has sharpened their
pitchforks to side against the male employee who dared to disregard the abuse
implied in the word, Bitch, when used inappropriately, we gradually became
aware of the causal and even friendly uses of the word. The beauty of the short
was the chin rubbing and thinking faces in the audience as we all grappled, a
win for progress.
Square Footage, written by Jessica Moss, and directed
by Margaret M. Ledford, was brilliant, with the line, “You need space to love a
person,” ringing in the theater. Jordan Patriarca and Daryl Patrice glowed on
stage, and Patrice gave us so many wonderful moments. Patrice has a unique
ability to snap into character and drive home the emotion of a scene. We were
sold from the moment the lights went up, and the beauty of love communicated
was clear.
Sweet She, written by Jeff Locker, and directed by
Gail Garrisan, here in its world premiere, was a beautiful moment leading up to
a proposal. The proposal ended a bit too soon, and could have afforded a few
more beats, but we were hooked on the interaction between Bianca Garcia and
Stephon Duncan. There were tears in the audience as the recounting of their
first meeting was told in conversation. Garcia and Duncan showed amazing skill at
holding the scene and building the emotion so that we were totally invested to
see them into a happily ever after. One of the most successful scenes of the afternoon.
The comic win was Egg Timer, written by Christina
Luzarraga and directed by Elena Maria Garcia. Garcia puts up brilliant staging
and interpretation on this hilarious script. The story of a woman’s eggs
begging to be released cut to the soul of every female in the room. As the
pressure built on the woman to choose to procreate, the scene almost tipped
towards uncomfortable. Then, enter Birth Control. Even the random breakout
dance scene did something to shade how ludicrous and pressuring this scenario
of procreation had become. As you looked around, the audience reactions added
to the hilarity of the scene unfolding: women in the audience were laughing to
tears and nodding in affirmation, while men chuckled lightly, their faces
splashed with question marks, as Birth Control discussed the importance of
cervical mucus. Bravo to Luzarraga ending with the well-meaning Egg who tells
the woman, “…when you’re ready.”
The She Short
performance attracted a mix of interested generations and backgrounds. The
afternoon was a refreshingly raucous riot, filled with excellent theater. She Shorts is running through August 4th. Tickets can be purchased at the following web
address: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3922646
