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On first watching Four Short Musicals—Sled Ride, From a Childhood, The Highwayman, and Blood Drive—it’s hard to see a connection. The musicals are as diverse in subject matter as they are in musical style, their characters range in age and type, and the settings cover a hundred-year span. Sled Ride is a modern re-imagining of Edith Wharton’s 1911 novel Ethan Frome. From a Childhood is a haunting piece based on a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. The Highwayman is a funky, hip-hop version of a 1906 Alfred Noyes poem. And Blood Drive is an original piece that takes place in the present day.

So what draws these pieces together into one cohesive evening of theater? According to director Scott Davenport Richards, it is the simple fact that all the characters, throughout each of the four pieces, are fundamentally people in need. Pair this great need with a limited time of (at most) twenty minutes to resolve one’s conflict, and the stakes become extremely high. Read more »