SALEM — Salem State Theatre, in conjunction with Salem State University’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts, will host its fifth annual Veterans 10-Minute Play Festival from Nov. 9-11 at 7:30 pm. The performances will take place at the Sophia Gordon Center, 356 Lafayette St.
The event, which features six selected plays performed by 24 students and directed by two faculty members, will touch on a range of issues, including respect, desertion, and homelessness. Requirements for submissions include that a play focus on military service and/or how that service affects a community.
“The development of the veterans’ playwriting contest and festival uses theater as a tool to bring the community together to discuss the themes of war, patriotism, and service in a way that increases understanding, empathy and compassion,” said Festival Artistic Director Julie Kiernan, Class of 1996, of Marblehead, who is an associate professor of theatre and speech communication.
A national call for submissions goes out each spring with winners selected by a panel of judges, including veteran and alum Tom Laaser, Class of 2020, of Windham, Maine, who was an inspiration for the festival in 2019 with a play he wrote in 2018, Kiernan said.
“The festival is vitally important on Veterans Day because it is not benign. It’s not for show. It puts veterans and their lives front and center and asks hard questions of us all. It generates conversations we need to be having on this day,” said Laaser, who served with the 10th Mountain Division out of Fort Drum, N.Y. from 2011 to 2016 with one deployment to Afghanistan.
The performances are free and open to the public and often sell out. Advanced reservations are recommended at www.salemstatetickets.com
Submissions and winners of previous playwright competitions have included military family members, social workers, and psychologists who work with veterans and even civilians. One winner was even a writer for the hit 1970s television show, “MASH.”
The play “VFW Post 1209,” written by Salem State Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre and Speech Communication and alum Brendan O’Neill, Class of 1995, a veteran from Salisbury, is among this year’s selected works. It’s about a female ex-soldier who wanders into the bar to use the phone and the people she then meets.
O’Neill has also directed plays in the festival.
“I think voicing some of the issues our veterans have dealt with is such important work and continues to be topical,” he said.
Following each evening’s performance, audience members also have the opportunity to speak to the directors, playwrights and actors to discuss all aspects of the production and themes of the plays.
“The post-show conversations that are part of this festival affirm the value of sharing stories as they are rich and oh-so human,” Creative and Performing Arts Center Director Karen Gahagan said.
Laaser agreed.
“It is important for veterans and those military affiliated to tell their story. It is important for the community to hear their story and ask questions,” he added. “I believe creative expression and community discussion is one of the highest ways to truly honor the human beings we call veterans.”
