THEATER | "Festival of Ten" 

Ten is the magic number this weekend and next at SUNY Brockport as the college's Department of Theatre and Music Studies presents its 10th "Festival of Ten." Each evening features 10 plays by 10 playwrights, presented by students and each lasting 10 minutes. The characters in this year's selections include financial planners, astronauts, basketball players, and squirrels, all in intriguing situations providing interesting challenges to actors, directors, and designers.

Since it began in 1999, the biennial "Festival of Ten" has presented 100 plays by writers from all over the world. Theatre and Music Studies Department chair P. Gibson Ralph calls the festival "a resource much appreciated by playwrights, who are able to see their works fully staged, sometimes for the first time ... As it has grown, more student directors and costume designers — even alumni — have been able to participate, in addition to the actors on stage."

This year's 10 plays are: "The Benefit of the Doubt" by Annie Wood; "Cocktail Party" by Thomas Misuraca; "Ghost Hypothesis" by Maximillian Gill; "Hanna and Hal" by Paul Tinsley; "Monument" by Mark Scharf; "Nevada Johnson and the Meaning of Life" by Evan Baughfman; "Places" by Ed Friedman; "Player of the Week" by Pete Mergel; "The Saddest Play About Rainbows" by Callan Stout; and "Squirrels in a Knothole" by Peter Stavros.

SUNY Brockport presents the "Festival of Ten" Friday, February 24, through Sunday, February 26, and again Thursday, March 2, through Saturday, March 4, at the Tower Fine Arts Center, 180 Holley Street, Brockport. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays; 2 p.m. on Sunday. $17 general; $12, seniors, alumni, and staff; $9 for students. fineartstix.brockport.edu.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct the price for student tickets