The eighteenth Famous for 15 Minutes Playwriting Festival will take place from April 18 to April 27 at the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society.

The festival supports the BMDS Charitable Trust. The trust, formed more than two decades ago, aims to promote and develop theatrical arts, with a particular focus on artists associated with Bermuda. The trustees are the producers of the festival.

Jennifer Campbell, one of the trustees, explained the structure of this year’s show.

“The six plays chosen will be performed on the stage at BMDS on the April 18 to April 20 and then from April 25 to April 27,” Ms Campbell said.

Depending on ticket sales, an additional show or two may be added in between those dates.

This year, they are looking to encourage younger people to get involved in the festival.

Ms Campbell explained the reasoning behind that decision is owing in part to BMDS trustees and BMDS music chair Lisa Maule.

“Over the past few years, she has worked diligently at including the youth in productions for BMDS and for the Charitable Trust — we have had music performances, summer camps run by her daughter, Shona and Lisa was instrumental in arranging for a 24 hours to curtain for students last summer.

“She contacted her teaching peers in Bermuda to encourage their senior students to be a part of this.

“The concept is that between 8pm on a Friday and 8pm on a Saturday, six 10-minute plays are written and rehearsed in a 24-hour period, and the curtain goes up at 8pm on Saturday night.

“This was achieved pretty much entirely by teenagers, with some mentoring and supervision by a few adults,” said Campbell.

In terms of playwright finalists, six 15-minute plays will be selected from the submissions.

Budding playwrights have until January 31 to submit their scripts. Last year, they received 15 submissions for the festival.

• For more information on rules and submissions, e-mail famous@bmds.bm or visit bmds.bm