THEATRE

The Salem Theatre Company brings its popular Moments of Play (MoP) festival of original 10-minute plays back to the stage from Wednesday, July 13 through Sunday, July 17 at the STC Theater, 90 Lafayette Street in downtown Salem.

“This will mark MoP’s fifth year. To date we have produced over 50 10-minute plays, and given scores of playwrights from across the country the opportunity to showcase their talents. This year’s festival promises to be one of the best yet,” explained STC Artistic Director John Fogle.

The ten selected plays for the 2011 Moments of Play festival will be presented on Wednesday, July 13 at 7:30 p.m. and will repeat Thursday and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

“During last year’s Festival, we added a playwrights' panel and brought in four nationally recognized playwrights to view the plays and review them with the MoP playwrights,” said Catherine Bertrand, Co-Producer of MoP. “We are happy to be repeating the Playwrights Panel this year.” The Playwrights Panel will take place in the theater on Saturday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m. The public is invited to this free event. If you plan on attending any of the 10-Minute Play presentations, you’ll want to join the panelists as they discuss the plays, theatre and other topics.

The 2011 panelists are Kate Snodgrass, Artistic Director of Boston Playwrights Theatre, Richard Dresser (Johnny Baseball, Rounding Third) and Bill Cunningham, Chair of the Salem State University Theatre Program and writer of the award-winning play, Course Work.

The 10 10-Minute Plays to be performed this year are The Oracle of Delphi by James C. Ferguson of Plainville, Knuckleheads by James McLindon of Northampton, Upstairs Fred by Georgette Beck of Marblehead, Do Not Disturb by Patrick Hume of Dorchester, Perfect Strangers by Peter Snoad of Jamaica Plain, February First is an Annual Thing by Cassie M. Seinuk of Boston, On a Patch of Old Snow by J.A. Curcione of Philadelphia, PA, Give and Take by Bara Swain of New York, NY, Designated Sitter by George Sauer of Dedham, and The Rabbit Lesson by Christopher Kent of Redondo Beach, CA.

Tickets for all performances are $15 and can be purchased online at www.salemtheatre.com as of July 1. Tickets may also be reserved for pick-up at the box office on the day of show by phoning 978-90-8546 or e-mailing info@salemtheatre.com. Online ticketing ends 24 hours in advance of each performance.

“Moments of Play” is produced by Catherine Bertrand and Caroline Watson-Felt and is supported in part by a grant from the Salem Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.