You can grab a preview Thursday (May 29) or Friday of either half of City Theatre’s always-anticipated Summer Shorts program at the Arsht Center’s Studio Theatre in downtown Miami. But after more than a dozen years of experience, there’s no substitute for a weekend double-header, such as the official openings Saturday (May 31) at 6 and 8:30 p.m. with a picnic-style buffet dinner (optional) in between.

This year’s series of Programs A and B, approximately 90 minutes each of short dramas and comedies, runs at the Arsht through June 22. You can buy one or the other at any performance, or do both on weekends.

The main series then moves to the Broward Center June 26-29 – The time frame compacted due to the Broward Amaturo’s 600 seats vs. 200 at the Arsht’s Studio.

Coming along for the ride to Broward will be the company’s special package of short plays for kids and families, Shorts 4 Kids, for matinees June 26-28.

What isn’t making the trip to Broward, however, is the said-to-be-edgy new late night program called Undershorts, full of “social and political material … adult language, content and nudity.” Those playlets unspool only at the Arsht Thursday-Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at 11 June 12-14 and 19-21.

For details, visit the City Theatre, Arsht Center or Broward Center websites.

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Play readings are among the most important building blocks in theater, where plays are spoken and in many cases acted for the first time. But they can also be showcases for existing works that might rarely, if ever, get the opportunity for full productions. Examples of both are coming up in the days ahead.

Both events are upcoming in south Miami-Dade, though readings are also integral parts of such regional theaters as the Florida Stage, Caldwell Theatre Company and New Theatre, which have effectively used their reading series as incubators for main stage premieres.

Sunday (June 1) finds a top-rank cast reading Mario Diament’s “The Book of Ruth” for the recently-founded Theater By The Book program, at the Alper JCC, 11115 SW 112th Ave., Miami. On June 7, The Actors’ Playhouse at The Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables will present readings of its recent From Page to Stage competition, new plays by Carbonell winning dramatist Michael McKeever – “Unreasonable Doubt” at 3 p.m. – and “When the Sun Shone Brighter” by Christopher Demos-Brown at 7 p.m.

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Following through on its theme to pay tribute to Spain, the International Hispanic Theatre Festival will bring four productions from that country to anchor its 23rd festival July 9-27 in Miami. Another four are expected to arrive from Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Slovenia.

They will be joined by the fest's host company, founder and festival director Mario Ernesto Sanchez' (photo at right) Teatro Avante in Coral Gables, plus Miami-Dade College's Prometeo Theatre and a pair of Miami area children's troupes, Gira-Sol and Cuenteros. Various performances will be in Spanish or English, Slovenian and some with supertitles.

The opening attraction will be "El Llanto" (Event) by Federico Garcia Lorca and Enric Granados, performed by Barcelona, Spain's Octubre Teatral, July 9-11 at the Arsht Center's Studio Theatre. Other venues include Miami-Dade College's Wolfson (300 NE 2 Ave.) and InterAmerican (627 S.W. 27 Ave.) campuses, plus the Key Biscayne Community Center and Spanish Cultural Center.

Information is available at the Teatro Avante website, by phone 305-445-8877 and the Arsht Center.

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The Theatre League of South Florida wraps up its third annual spring Theatre Festival this weekend, then celebrates Monday (May 12) in Fort Lauderdale with a new awards fete that salutes the best of the fest.

The league is introducing the Silver Palm Awards, a dozen citations for top shows and performances among the fest's 26 participating productions, and to thank the program's major sponsors. The event is party style at 7:30 p.m. at Stork's Bakery Cafe on E. Las Olas Blvd., free to League members and $20 for non-members.

The festival Silver Palm performance honorees are:

The Naked Stage Company - As Outstanding New Emerging Theatre Company.

Playwright Jules Tasca - Outstanding New Work for "The Mission" at the New Theatre in Coral Gables.

"Some Girls" - Outstanding Ensemble, at the Mad Cat Theatre Company, Miami.

"From the Mississippi Delta" - Outstanding Ensemble, at the M Ensemble Company, North Miami.

Nanique Gheridian - Outstanding Performance in "Benefactors" at Palm Beach Dramaworks, West Palm Beach.

Bruce Adler - Outstanding Performance in "I'm Not Rappaport" at New Vista Theatre Company, Boca Raton.

Eric Fabregat - Outstanding Performance in "Dirty Story" at Mosaic Theatre, Plantation.

Ricky Waugh - Outstanding Performances in "The Mission" at the New Theatre and "Two Sisters and a Piano" at The Promethean Theatre, Davie.

The Silver Palm sponsor citations go to:

Jim Stork of Stork's Backery and Cafe Las Olas, WLRN radio-TV, the Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs Dept. and Doug Jones of Sixth Star Entertainment and Marketing, all for Outstanding Contributions to the South Florida Theatre Festival.

Also previously announced, Jay Harris of Boca Raton will receive the League's oldest and highest honor, the Remy Pioneer Award. Freelance journalist Ron Levitt, the league's current VP and a former Florida Assistant Secretary of State, will receive the Remy Service Award. Yours truly Jack Zink will be tapped for a Lifetime Achievement Award. Gush.

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"What good's permitting some prophet of doom
To wipe every smile away
Life is a cabaret, old chum
So come to the cabaret."

--Lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander, "Cabaret," Broadway, 1966

Welcome to the blogosphere that encourages discourse from everyone who recognize the obvious: There are few if any boundaries among interests in the arts or their connection to show "business" and pop culture.

Plays, musicals, opera, symphony, chorus, recitals, jazz, pop concerts, artspolitik, philanthropy, and much more are part of the Cultural Cabaret.

Here, you'll find breaking news and opinion of events - performing arts and show business - in the digital world, often as observation within minutes or hours of an event - previews to the fully vetted online and print news or reviews to follow.

Whether the discussion is conducted digitally or on paper, we all need to be a part of the community exchange. Ours is South Florida. These posts are the starting point for you to discuss our cultural community among one another.

Now that the cabaret is in full swing with a few scoops and catch-up items on the entertainment news front, it's time to pause for introductions and welcomes.

You lounge lizards know the drill - the set begins with a torch song opener, then a ballad, then the entertainer "chats" with you personal-like before diving into the show proper.

Here's my chat: I've spent nearly 40 years covering entertainment and the arts for every major newspaper in South Florida, from Miami through the Palm Beaches - over half of it here at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

For much of that time, I've also covered the statewide entertainment industry reporting for "the bible of show business," Variety based in New York City and Daily Variety in Los Angeles.

In the overview, that means nights in saloons and salons and sheds (a.k.a. amphitheaters), plus supperclubs, casinos and concert halls, from symphony orchestras to rock festivals, playhouses to theaters to opera houses, movies from the set to the neighborhood multiplex to art cinemas to film festivals, and artspolitik from city hall to the state legislature.

That's a jack-of-all-trades experience in a whole bunch of class-conscious worlds with many self-appointed high priests. So, expect to hear some some high-velocity rebuttals from contributors offering counterpoint as we rebuild the roads of information and opinion as two-way, community-wide thoroughfares.

This blog and its threads will attempt a univeral approach to the arts and show business without demeaning one to the other.

High priests have their place, and their standards deserve defense. I myself am a devotee of Ayn Rand's cultural philosophy and live in a condominium named The Fountainhead, for which I have been board president. This is not entirely coincidence or serendipity.

Yet, the differences that propel community expectations populate the arena of the cultural cabaret. On the web, the stage is yours, mine and ours.

There is one caveat, however. Anonymous comments won't get a followup or response from here. To be taken seriously, you need to be taken at face value. Without a face, your comments have no value.

- Jack Zink

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