BANGOR – The old letters tucked away in his parents’ attic didn’t hold much interest for Frank Wicks as a child.

The Orr’s Island resident wasn’t interested in studying the battles of the Civil War the way his father was. About 15 years ago, however, Wicks, now 69, found the letters his great-grandparents wrote to each other between 1859 and 1865 so fascinating that he decided to turn them into a play.

“Soldier, Come Home” is one of 23 plays to be performed as readers’ theater at Northern Writes, Penobscot Theatre Company’s second annual new play festival. The festival begins Tuesday, May 27, and runs through Sunday, June 8.

The company received more than 500 submissions, Producing Artistic Director Scott R.C. Levy said earlier this week. Five of the selected plays, including Wicks’, are by Maine playwrights.

“It was overwhelming,” Levy said of the number of entries. “We have no thematic guidelines. The only submission requirement is that it needs to be in some stage of development, not have been published or have had a first-class production.”

Most of the playwrights are planning to attend the readings because hearing the dialogue is important to the writing process, he said.

“The playwright is being disserved if he or she doesn’t get to hear it out loud before an audience of strangers,” he said. “That’s very different than having some of their friends hear the play in their living room.”

That is one of the things Wicks anticipates most.

“When I first wrote it,” he said, “it was five hours long. I’ve got it down to about an hour and 10 minutes. I’m working on cutting it down to 45 minutes so it can be used in school classrooms. I’m interested in seeing the audience’s reaction to help me do that.”

His play focuses more on the troubles his great-grandmother faced back home and how she became empowered over the years to handle things on her own rather than on the battles her husband endured. Wicks also pulled material from letters written by other relatives who were Union soldiers from the same area of Pennsylvania as his great-grandparents.

Dover-Foxcroft native Nicholas Willette, 26, had an outline for a play about Sherlock Holmes when he heard about PTC’s festival in February. He decided to write the play for the festival and began doing research by rereading the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Willette also watched the English television series starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and the “Star Trek: Next Generation” episodes that featured characters acting out the characters’ adventures on the holodeck.

“I was interested in taking the legendary characters and recasting the characters in a different way,” Willette, who recently completed his first novel.

His one-act play definitely puts an unexpected spin on the familiar tales, Levy said.

A few of the plays, including “Filling” by California resident Krista Knight, are avant-garde. Its characters are insects in various stages of development. The play grew out of the debate over evolution and intelligent design, the playwright wrote in her preface.

It is the role of theater to bring such topical material to an audience, according to Levy.

“In order for there to effectively be a future for the American theater,” he said, “it is the responsibility of regional theaters to help develop the work of new playwrights because Broadway doesn’t do it anymore.”

One full-length play from the festival will be performed next year, he said.

“Our plan is to have a series called Penobscot Theatre Underground in January and February,” Levy said. “We want to put about 100 seats on the stage in the round and do one play that has already been published and another from the new play festival.”

Which play will be produced has not been decided, he said, but theatergoers who attend the Northern Writes will be able to express their preferences and give feedback to playwrights at talk-back sessions after the readings.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

990-8207

Northern Writes play festival

May 27-June 8, Bangor Opera House. Tickets $5 per night or free to season-ticket holders. Information: 942-3333, www.penobscottheatre.org.

Festival schedule

7 p.m. May 27

“QUEEN OF THE MIST”

by Kate McLeod, New York, N.Y.

7 p.m. May 28

“THE JUNGLE FUN ROOM”

by Brian Hampton, New York, N.Y.

7 p.m. May 29

“NAME GAME”

by Shirley King, Benicia, Calif.

“HEELS IN THE SAND”

by Joshua A. Kashinsky, Yonkers, N.Y.

8 p.m. May 30

“NADIA’S WISH”

by Clare Melley Smith, Cape Elizabeth

“VOODOO TODAY HERE NOW 5”

by Joe Musso, Birmingham, Ala.

2 p.m. May 31

“THE OATH”

by Jacqueline Goldfinger, San Diego, Calif.

8 p.m. May 31

“PIER PRESSURE”

by Henry W. Kimmell, Atlanta, Ga.

“POTATO”

by Leigh Allan, Dayton, Ohio

2 p.m. June 1

“ELEMENTARY”

by Nicholas Willette, Dover-Foxcroft

“MT. PLEASANT FARM”

by Cheever Tyler, New Haven, Conn.

7 p.m. June 4

“CRISIS OF FAITH”

by Jay Hanagan, Geneva, N.Y.

7 p.m. June 5

“SAMANTHA”

by Michael Busby, Cotati, Calif.

8 p.m. June 6

“LESSON AND CAROLS”

by Demetra Kareman, Brooklyn, N.Y.

“FILLING”

by Krista Knight, Portola Valley, Calif.

2 p.m. June 7

“BACKSEAT DRIVER”

by Laura K. Emack, Prospect

“EACH”

by Ryan Sprague, Astoria, N.Y.

5 p.m. June 7

“SKIN DEEP”

by Rich Orloff, New York, N.Y.

8 p.m. June 7

“ELECTROLYSIS”

by Bruce Pratt, Eddington

“STATE OF THE ART”

by Deborah Savadge, New York, N.Y.

2 p.m. June 8

“LOVE AMONG THE RAVIOLI”

by Michael Burgan, Chicago, Ill.

“SOLDIER, COME HOME”

by Frank Wick, Orr’s Island

“PRINDERELLA AND THE SINCE”

by Pat McGeever, Philadelphia, Pa.