Taipei Shorts 7: Original one-act play festival impresses in Taipei

Taipei's multilingual theater festival, featuring short works by local dramatists, performers, and technicians, is coming up in November! "Taipei Shorts 7" is a one-act theater festival with contributors from four continents, managed by a Taiwan-based team of theater professionals. All the plays performed are original works, which is fantastic for someone like me who loves new productions. This festival serves as a platform for professional talent to showcase their new creations, as most venues and theaters focus on larger productions. Theater festivals like Taipei Shorts are essential to every urban landscape, where theater artists seek opportunities to create and share their work. Taipei, a bustling city with millions of residents, provides a wonderful setting for theater enthusiasts to present, view, and celebrate local performing artists. Taipei Shorts 7 will take place at PLAYground from November 21 to 23, 2025. Word on the street is that this festival aims for greater impact, increased funding, and a larger audience next year. I plan to attend and enjoy some local new plays, and I hope you will too!

More information here: Taipei Shorts 7

Taipei Shorts Review: I attended Taipei Shorts for an evening performance. First of all, the venue is charming, with a homely and comfortable vibe that is extremely welcoming and cozy. Getting a ticket was easy; I bought it online and printed it at my local 7-Eleven before heading out to the Playground Theater. The show consisted of four original one-act plays with one intermission. Each play was unique, featuring multi- and intercultural themes centered around relationships, and showcased wonderful performers exhibiting their talents. What I found most compelling was the multilingual aspect. The plays were in Mandarin and English, with supertitles displayed above the performers so that both Mandarin and English speakers could understand the dialogue. Needless to say, most of the acting was so precise that I didn't need to read the supertitles to follow the story. I enjoyed this festival and hope it will continue to garner support from the local and immigrant communities, as well as from the Taipei City granting organizations. This festival is truly a place where cultures mix, question, and explore the increasing presence of people from diverse backgrounds in Taiwan.