What producer David Hoffman calls "an evening of great comedy with good company" opens at Tierney's Tavern on August 16, as Cafe Theatre returns to present its latest festival of one-act plays.  For two consecutive Thursday and Friday evenings, Cafe Theatre will stage a program of short comedies using the entire upstairs bar as the stage.  Yes, it's 360 degrees of theatre!

Building on the success of last February's show entitled NUTS 'N HONEY, Hoffman says that this new program will "raise the bar" of theatre at Tierney's.  "This will be a program of comedies which stretch from the classic sketch style of vaudeville to the fully realized one act play," he explains.  "This program contains some of the funniest, yet most sensitive material I have read.  Even at its most outrageous, comedy should speak to what challenges us, what moves us, and ultimately, what allows us to look back at the mess we'e created and chuckle.  These comedies do that."

Included in "Summer Shorts" will be two plays that Hoffman saw earlier this year at The Turnip Festival 15 Minute Play Competition in New York City.  Brian Feehan's "Head Games" features a fascinating look at how a neurosis can be contagious.  Montclair residents Corey Whelihan and Sharon Garry portray the young neurotic and the unfortunate head case he creates.  Besides acting in "Head Games", Garry will also be directing Viki Boyle's award winning play "Term Limit," featuring Keith Beechey and Diane Gilch.  In this ten-minute play, a lawyer counsels his client--a veteran White House secretary who seems more concerned with frosting her cupcakes than facing the consequences of staring down the Vice-President.

Recently, Gilch was seen at the 13th Annual Jersey Voices Play Festival in Chatham.  It was during the festival that Hoffman heard her voice and realized he had found Grace for "Term Limit".  Gilch will also be paired with Garry in "Monica, Before and After."  Written by New York playwright Dan Ho, the play recounts the struggle a woman feels against the work of art she inspired.  Hoffman relates his first encounter with this work at a play festival in 2002 near Albany.  Stageworks On The Hudson first produced this play as part of their popular "Play by Play" series.  "For five years I have been waiting for the right time to stage 'Monica, Before and After' in Montclair".

Once again working with playwrights from previous programs, Hoffman has chosen "Passing the Deal" by Jersey playwright Bill Mesce, Jr. and Greg Scot Milhalik's "The Doubts."  Both plays feature the friendship of two fellows played by John P. Dowgin of Spotswood and Bloomfield's Brian Parks.  These actors are joined by Dennis DaPrile, who just finished a run of "Valhalla" with The Theatre Project and Hoffman himself, who can't resist being onstage especially when the role requires that he eat Big Macs.

Rounding out "Summer Shorts" will be Frederick Stroppel's "Mamet Women".  Imagine what happens when two dear friends clash over babysitting and Tupperware.  The result is dialogue that would make Mamet men wince.  Actresses Gilch and Garry partner with director Jim Peskin in this homage to one of America's leading playwrights.

"Summer Shorts" will be performed August 16, 17, 23, 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Tierney's Tavern at 136-138 Valley Road.  Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for students.  (Due to strong language, this show is not recommended for children)