Vero Voce presents its third New Playwright Festival

Vero Voce Theater will present its third New Playwright Festival at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 13 and 14, and 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, in the Vero Voce Theater, 951 State Ave., St. Charles.

Performing one weekend only, Vero Voce will present 10 original one-act plays written by local playwrights throughout the Chicago area. Playwrights include Kristin Cotts, Tim Feeney, Mike Huth, Eric Maurer, Tori McKeehan, Tony Pellegrino, Doug Richards, Edward W. Wavak, Tammy White, and Carl Zeitler.

The production is overseen by Vero Voce's theatrical artistic director David M. Rodriguez.

"Competition was pretty tough this year," Rodriguez said. "I planned on accepting only eight submissions, similar to last year, but I just really wanted to see these 10 performed. We had a lot of playwrights from previous seasons submit, for instance, Mike Huth and Carl Zeitler. But I was pleasantly surprised by the number of playwrights whose scripts I hadn't read before, like Edward W. Wavak, Eric Maurer and Tammy White."

The 10 plays will be directed by eight different directors with a cast of nearly 30 actors. "That's something very important to me every year. I prefer to cast as many actors as possible, so the focus is on the scripts as opposed to an audience member possibly saying 'That one person was so impressive in those five roles.' The Playwright Festival has always been about the writers and how talented local artists are in Chicago," Rodroguez added.

Tickets are $20; $18 for seniors and students; and $12 for children 12 and younger. Tickets are general admission and may be purchased online at www.verovoce.com or by calling (630) 584-0139. All major credit cards will be accepted.