MARSHALL — A lineup of short plays will be performed in Marshall this weekend — and the productions will be coming together fast. It’s all part of the Marshall Area Stage Company’s Short Play Festival. Organizers said participants will gather on Saturday morning, and be ready to perform later that night.

“It should be fun,” said Bob Schwoch of MASC. Schwoch said the event brings together a variety of playwrights and performers.

Saturday will be the eighth Short Play Festival. The event has been held every other year, Schwoch said. The MASC festival got started when Schwoch wrote a play for the Minnesota Association of Community Theatres’ Fast Fest short play festival. Before going to Fast Fest, Schwoch teamed up with other writers to perform an evening of plays in Marshall.

“The first year, it was all local writers,” he said. “It was a fun evening. We did it in a semi-produced style,” which meant that actors didn’t need to have lines memorized.

Over the years, the MASC Short Play Festival has grown. Schwoch said in the past MASC has received play submissions from writers as far away as Australia.

This year, there are seven plays that will be performed at the MASC festival.

“Some are pretty humorous, and some are serious,” he said. One of the plays at the festival focuses on the experiences of immigrant families.

Putting together a whole slate of plays in the space of a day is a unique experience for writers and actors.

“It takes out pretty much all the scary parts,” like auditioning and memorizing lines, Schwoch said. “You’re left with basically the performance, which is the fun part.”

Members of the public can watch the MASC Short Play Festival at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Marshall-Lyon County Library. A free will donation will be collected, with proceeds being divided between MASC and the library.