Short Tales is an evening of new plays directed by early-career directors. It’s an incubator for writers, actors and directors. Established in 2018 as a means of growing capacity in theatre creation and production in The Bahamas, Short Tales has produced four anthologies of new work and is editing the fifth.

The writers’ works are workshopped collaboratively, and the directors work with established Shakespeare in Paradise directors. The Short Tales company incorporates a mixture of veteran and novice actors, directors, and tech and stage crew.

Every January, a call goes out to the public to submit their plays for consideration. Scripts are read blind by a cadre of five to nine readers from various backgrounds: actors, resident and artistic directors, university professors, producers. Each script is given a yes/no/maybe by each reader and the responses are scored. The top scorers comprise the shortlist. The final production is selected from the shortlisted plays according to the demands of crafting a performance, and to feature the widest possible spread of new writers.

The selected plays are designed to be performed in a single evening. Short Tales runs throughout the length of the Shakespeare in Paradise festival in the Philip A. Burrows Black Box.

The plays are also edited and published in a Short Tales anthology. Each performer and director receives a copy of the anthology; each writer receives ten copies.