Short+Sweet Hollywood Festival To Open September 13 At Marilyn Monroe Theatre In WeHo

Short+Sweet is the world's largest performing arts festival and is dedicated to original short form Theatre, Music and Dance.

Founded in Sydney Australia in 2002 it's now presented in 30+ cities across 10 countries (Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, Mauritius, Philippines, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Zimbabwe and the USA) with around 50 festivals annually.

According to the Hollywood based Festival Director Christian Rodrigo around 7000 original new works have been presented around the world and "every single one just 10 minutes or less".

"The magic of Short+Sweet is that 10 minutes is a fantastic length for telling a story and storytelling is at the heart of the festival," he said.

While the most common language for S+S performances is English it has also featured plays in Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, Tagalog, Tamil, Maori, Bahasa and a host of others.

According to Founder and International Artistic Director Mark Cleary the global scope of Short+Sweet enables it to provide creative opportunities for individuals and communities around the world, encouraging and enabling people internationally to tell their stories.

"Everyone has the potential to be creative and it was inevitable that we'd end up in Los Angeles where there's more raw creativity per square mile than anywhere else in the world.

Under the directorship of Rodrigo, Short+Sweet Hollywood will be several festivals in one. There will be five weeks of theatre: The first two weeks of the festival will be in English.

The third and fourth weeks will focus on artist of the Latino community with presentations in Spanish and some bilingual presentations. Why? "Because we're in Los Angeles, and Latinos are fast becoming a plurality within the County. They have stories to tell", he said.

The fifth week of Short + Sweet Hollywood will be devoted to Dance and there will be six weeks of Films on Saturdays at 10 p.m., including one week focusing on Latino film.

The sixth and final week of Short + Sweet Hollywood will feature the Best of the festival, with a Gala Finale that will award festival winners selected by juries of industry professionals, audience favorites (People's Choice), and by the Festival.

Each week, plays will be seen by jurors of industry professionals including producers, directors, casting directors and actors. Their selections will be included for consideration in the sixth and final Awards week.

In addition to all the shows, there will workshops and panels with distinguished industry professionals that will illuminate various aspects of the craft and the business of performing arts.

There's been a conscious effort on the part of the festival organizers to include a significant proportion of women writers and directors in the works being performed.

Short + Sweet Hollywood will begin on September 13 and will be based at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre at the Lee Strasberg Creative Center, 7936 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90046. This is just west of Fairfax Ave., near Hayworth St. Tickets for most shows are $14.00 (plus a small processing fee) and are available at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/shortandsweethollywood

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