Theater group Gwangju Performance Project is marking its fifth birthday with a 10-minute play festival.

The GPP is inviting playwrights from across Korea to enter the “Pen In Ten” competition, to be staged June 24-26.

There will be cash prizes for the best script, best production and best actor, as well as a people’s choice award.

Laura Prantner, a publicity representative for the GPP, said that the troupe had not held a 10-minute play festival before, but decided to do so as it is something that the wider community can easily get involved with.

“We chose the 10-minute play festival because some of the GPP members had done them in the past and they were major successes,” she said.

“Also, since the plays are only 10 minutes, there isn’t a whole lot of pressure -- it can be a lot of fun.

“We chose this event to mark our five-year anniversary because the community is our ‘life blood’ as it were, and we want to do something where the community can be involved and have a great time.”

As to genre, Prantner said anything goes, as long as it fits the time limit.

“Any type of play is fine -- comedy, drama, action. It just needs to be 10 minutes,” she said.

The plays will be staged in Gwangju, though the venue is still undecided.

The winners will be chosen by a panel of judges, except the people’s choice award, which will be chosen by the audience. Prizes range from 500,000 won ($420) to 300,000 won.

There is a submission fee of 10,000 won per script, and entrants can take part in the competition with up to three scripts each. To enter the competition, register via the link below and send scripts to gpp.plays@gmail.com. The deadline for entries is April 1.

For more information, visit www.gwangjutheatre.com/pen-in-ten.html

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)