By WILLIAM WOOD

Voice of Vashon

Radio theater will return to the Island at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, when Voice of Vashon Radio Theater’s Ten-Minute Play Festival makes its debut at the Ober Park performance space.

Twelve actors and four directors will present six short plays, and the evening will be recorded for later broadcast on Voice of Vashon Internet radio and VoV-TV Comcast Channel 21.

The evening, spearheaded by Islander Jeanne Dougherty, is a collaboration between the Vashon Park District and Voice of Vashon.

Dougherty said that the project is tailor-made for busy Island theater artists who have a hard time creating theater with all the other demands made on their time.

Radio theater allows Island thespians the opportunity to create theater in a stripped down, simplified way. Production values are minimal — stools, script stands and microphones.

The evening will include two plays by Drew Katzman, a playwright from Los Angeles.

“Drew has a great ear for dialogue and creates wonderful relationships, even in these short plays,” Dougherty said.

The Katzman plays, “I’m Tired of Looking for Barrymore” and “The Paradigm,” both examine fatherhood and friendship in the context of routine encounters. Chris Ott will direct “Barrymore,” and Stephen Floyd will direct “Paradigm.”

Another play on the bill is “Evolution of Chaos,” by Bryan Willis.

Dougherty described “Evol-ution” as “a funny, wry look at a yoga class and the women who frequent it.” David Godsey will direct.

Lynann Politte, who a few years ago produced and directed “The Vagina Monologues,” will present “The Gage and Mr. Comstock,” a monologue by Carolyn Gage.

Mik Kuhlman will perform an adaptation of a short story by David James Duncan, “Red Coats,” which is part of her one- woman show.

Dougherty is teaming up with Patti Pimento (a.k.a Kathryn Mesney), who has been her intrepid co-actor and director on several Vashon theater projects. They will perform “Friends of Sam,” by Dorothy Louise.

“I saw this play at a women’s theater festival in New York last December and was quite taken with it,” Dougherty said. She said that the play “succinctly and eloquently speaks to life at a certain age.”

For Susan McCabe, Vashon Park District’s program coordinator, the Ten Minute Play Festival is a follow up to her last radio theater effort, two performances of Agatha Christie’s “The Case of the Careless Victim” and a social science fiction play, “Bathysphere,” which the park district sponsored in March of 2007.

“Response to our first Radio Theater performance was unexpectedly strong, and the audience made it clear that they wanted more,” she said.

McCabe was thrilled when Dougherty approached her about creating an evening of radio theater.

“I knew that if Jeanne took this on, we would end up with a strong evening of theater,” McCabe said.

In addition to those already mentioned, other Island theater artists participating in the project are Lyndsay Aicken, Phil Dunn, Stephen Seigel, Antonia Greene, Louis Mangione, Janet McAlpin, Tim Morrison, Chris Ott, Janice Randall and Chaim Rosemarin.