Peninsula College’s “Find Your Voice” Play Festival is back and P.C. Drama and Theater director Dr. Lara Starcevich is looking for some 10-minute manuscripts from community members who would like to see one of their own original one-act plays brought to life on the stage of the Peninsula College Little Theater during winter quarter.

Manuscripts are due Jan. 12.

“We are in need of your fabulously crafted and witty words, words of wisdom, words of genius,” says Starcevich, noting that anyone and everyone is welcome to submit their own 10-minute-or-under script.

Open auditions for the plays selected for the festival are set from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Jan. 21-22 at the Peninsula College Little Theater. Show dates are Feb. 27-28 and March 1.

As is usual for the Find Your Voice Play Festival, each script must include three random objects or names. This year’s “must” words are “Canada, a candle and Rick Flare the wrestler.”

The “how/why/when/where you choose to insert the words into your script is entirely up to you,” says Starcevich, and adds, “If you’d like to blame anyone for ‘why these words,’ then you can lay the blame on my Introduction to Theatre course this fall, a merry bunch of jolly lads and lasses. So, dip that pen in some ink and start writing.”

Of course, there always is some “fine print” one needs to read and in this case it is the submission guidelines. Scripts should be 10 typed-and-numbered pages with your name and return address on the first page. And the three key words or phrases — Canada, a candle and Rick Flare the wrestler — must be tucked somewhere into the script.

Starcevich says the reason the festival is held each year is to encourage people to push their own limits and discover their potential.

“There are so many amazing writers out there,” she says, and she encourages anyone who is interested to submit their work, including “those who are already familiar with the craft of playwriting as well as those who just love to write but may not realize that their talent could be put to wonderful use in the theater as well.

“We hope to attract more and more folks to the art of playwriting and play production with each new festival,” Starcevich says.

For more information, contact Starcevich at lstarcevich@pencol.edu.