This weekend, head on down to Urbanite Theatre to catch the final few days of the organization’s Modern Works Festival. Now in its 5th year, the festival looks to serve female playwrights and theater makers by providing a wealth of resources at their disposal.

Here’s how it works. From over 250 submissions, three plays–all containing three characters or less–have been selected to take part in the festival. Over the course of the festival, these playwrights will be given the time (15 hours) and the resources–female dramaturg, a team of professional actors and directors–to develop their work if they wish to do so. The festival ends with staged readings of all three plays featuring professional directors, stage managers and actors from all across the country. “The goal of the festival is to focus on play development. In addition to the teams for each play, we also have a festival dramaturg working on all three plays,” says Summer Wallace, Producing Artistic Director of Urbanite Theatre. “Plays come to the festival in all different stages. Some of them have had a little bit of development, while others have just been read with friends. It’s really an opportunity for these playwrights that culminates in three staged performances with a talk back for each show.”

After the readings, patrons of the festival will be able to vote on their favorite play, crowning a winner. However, in the Modern Works Festival, all three playwrights still win just by virtue of being in the festival. While there is a competitive aspect, the point of the event. is to uplift and support the development of new works by female playwrights from across the country.

This year’s slate features three distinct plays: Lia Romeo’s A Nice Motherly Person, a darkly comedic tale about new motherhood, Baylee Shlichtman’s In the Mouth of the Beast, a harrowing story about a father and daughter’s exploration into a dangerous cave that defies the laws of physics and bends reality and Sarah Elizabeth Grace’s I’m Saving You a Seat, an intimate story of an alcoholic in recovery who moves to a small Hudson Valley town and reconnects with her ex-stepfather and his new girlfriend. Also featured in the festival will be a discussion with featured guest speaker Lauren Gunderson, one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015. With everything included in this year’s event, the Modern Works Festival is truly a theater-lover’s dream.

September 4 to 8, Urbanite Theatre, 1487 2nd Street, Sarasota, 941-321-1397.