Who said New York City is the only place to catch great live theater? 

Since 2005, Porch Light Productions has been staging plays and musicals right here in New Jersey, and moved into a permanent space in Glen Rock last year. This weekend marks its first ever Playwrights Festival.

"I really wanted to create a festival here [in New Jersey]," said Ryan Pifher, owner and artistic director of the company, and a Ridgewood resident himself. "It kind of goes along with our whole mission, which is leaving the light on for artists of all ages."

The festival of one-act plays is something that has been on the Porch Light's agenda since before it even opened. Yet with so much else already filling up its calendar, including classes and main stage productions, it took the creative staff some time to find the perfect place for the festival in the company's season.

The first step was to find the talent whose work would be brought to life on Porch Light's stage. Calls for submissions were posted at the end of February on the web and in print publications. Playwrights were responsible for providing their own cast, directors, and props, and for coordinating their own rehearsal schedules. They were advised to keep props and technical requirements modest in order to accommodate the black box style theater.

Of the estimated 35 pieces received, six were chosen in March to be a part of the festival: Chance by Brian Patrick, Skin Deep by Mary Lynn Dobson, Left Bank Bookseller by Lisa Reznik, Blind Date in Vegas and The Flitzer by Brad Baron, and Rocked by Ridgewood's own Lisa Patterson.

"I was looking for a venue to debut a short play I wrote and heard that there was a playwrights festival at Porch Light," Patterson said. "I decided to visit the theater. I walked in and thought, 'This is a really cool space.'"

Patterson looks forward to having her work produced in "my own backyard," as she worded it, and how easy it will be for her friends to see what she does.

Rocked, about two lovers in a desert motel out west, is similar to the five other pieces, in that they are nothing alike. Plots range from an older man's reunion with his daughter after crossing paths with a troubled young woman (Chance); behind-the-scenes secrets of beauty pageants as told by moms, directors, and former titleholders (Skin Deep); a bookstore owner in 1920s Paris and her new friend from Princeton (Left Bank Bookseller); two brothers with clashing personalities sharing a night in Sin City (Blind Date in Vegas); and a modern day take on an old Greek tale, set at a carnival (The Flitzer).

With a little bit of everything to appeal to a wide range of audiences, Porch Light is yet again destined for artistic success.

If you go: Porch Light's Playwrights Festival will run The Flitzer, Blind Date in Vegas, and Chance at 8 p.m. April 30 and Rocked, Left Bank Bookseller, and Skin Deep at 8 p.m. May 1. Tickets: $15. For more information visit its Web site.