Back with more bite-size drama and onstage laughs, Seoul Players’ 10-Minute Play Festival holds its opening round this weekend.

The festival features brand new works from Korea and around the globe competing to win the top prize. And this year’s festival, the seventh, presents 160 minutes of theater running the gamut -- from comedy and physical farce to drama and experimental performance.

“As in years past, we had an impressive number of play submissions to choose from this time,” said festival producers Amber Green and Lorne Oliver. “We were truly inspired and excited by the quality and variety of the scripts we received.”

The Seoul Players team read and reviewed 180 prospective plays over several months before making the final selection.

“We had considered cutting our number of plays down to 14 this time, but we had so many excellent submissions, we had to continue with 16, as in the past few years,” they said.

“We’re really happy with this year’s plays, four of which come from our very own writing community here in Korea. It’s just a wonderful indication of the amount of raw and diverse talent we have here in this city.”

The plays are performed by local casts and crews, and organized by Seoul Players, with 50 actors and 15 directors taking part this year.

The first round will take place this weekend with two programs of eight plays getting two runs each. The best four chosen by an audience vote will go through to the final the following Saturday, when a panel of judges will decide the winners.

The first round’s Program A runs Friday at 9 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. Program B runs at 8 p.m. and 4 p.m. The final will be at 8 p.m. on Nov. 18.

Tickets are 15,000 won in advance or 20,000 at the door.

For more information, email seoulplayers@gmail.com or visit the Facebook event page by searching for Seoul Players 7th Ten Minute Play Festival.

(paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)