The purpose of theater is to tell a story and in order to do so, actors are required to shed their selves taking on the roles of various characters. The collective story of cast members, with all of the roles they play both on and off stage, is often as interesting as the one they’ve gathered to tell.

The Artists’ Exchange’s 8th annual One Act Play Festival is here. This year’s production features a social worker, Aeropostale employee and schoolteacher who have just two distinct things in common – they’re all from Cranston and they all love the craft of acting.

Nick Viau, 21, has only been acting for the last two years but plans to pursue acting as a career. The Cranston High School West alumni found an interest in acting when his CCRI oral communications professor watched him give a speech and seeing his natural talent, suggested he attend the teacher’s acting class. This suggestion led to Viau’s involvement in the theater department at CCRI and a number of community theater productions.

“Acting is more than just standing on a stage or in front of a camera and saying lines; each new role is an opportunity to learn more about myself and why people behave the way they do,” said Viau. “Plus you get to be someone else for a period of time, which always amazes me. To me there is no other thrill like it.” 

Viau plans to move to New York to pursue acting and credits Artists’ Exchange in helping to prepare him for what’s ahead. “Artists’ Exchange offers a lot of opportunities and is a great place for young actors to start their journey,” he said. 

Meg Taylor-Roth is a transplant from upstate New York who recently settled in Cranston. Her involvement in acting began in 2011 when she was working for Gateways to Change, the parent organization of Artists’ Exchange. She accompanied a client at a theater class at Artists’ Exchange and left with an invitation to audition for that year’s one act play festival. 

Taylor-Roth credits acting with making her better at her job as a home-based therapist and a better person overall.

“The best thing about the stage is that it’s live and you’re up in front of that audience; anything can and does happen. Dropped lines, missed entrances, or malfunctioning props require you to improvise while maintaining your cool. Theatre has taught me how to focus, think quickly and make do, all while giving the impression that I have got it all under control,” she said. 

Barbara Murray-Johnson, also a lifelong Cranston resident, has loved acting since she was a kid and credits Donald Babbits’ Intro to Acting class at Cranston East High School as her first true dabbles into the art, which led her to continued studies at URI. Murray-Johnson went on to become a teacher and a mom, and decided to return to Community Theater when she learned of an opportunity at Artists’ Exchange in 2011. 

“The accomplishment of telling a story and working with the community is so rewarding. Everyone you meet at Artists’ Exchange is friendly and very supportive of each other’s craft. It has been a wonderful place to come back to the stage, and I hope that the experiences I have had will lead me to many more experiences on stage,” she said. 

Presented in two distinct two-week “waves,” the festival’s 13 plays offer a refreshingly brief and varied sampling of emerging and established American playwrights. Local playwrights include Epic Theatre Company’s Kevin Broccoli, Trinity Repertory Company member Alexander Platt and Massachusetts Cultural Council Playwriting Fellow Ben Jolivet. 

Viau will be featured in Wave I’s “Why Don’t We Just Play Salad Bowl” and Wave II’s “The Resurrectionists,” both by local playwright Ben Jolivet, as well as Wave II’s “September in Biddeford” by Greg Mandryk.

“Salad Bowl” shows how even the most well-intended dinner party can take a sudden turn south while “The Resurrectionists” has two friends forced by boredom and limited choices to spend one morbid night examining the possibilities of their reanimated dreams.

“September in Biddeford” is described as “a Lifetime drama turned man-eating lobster romp.”

Taylor-Roth can also be seen in “Salad Bowl” as well as “Fit of Pique” by Mark Harvey Levine and “Family Business” by Kay Poiro, all in Wave I. In “Fit of Pique,” a woman is often told that she is most ravishing when she’s annoyed, and she is all too willing to suffer for her beauty, while “Family Business” has Guiseppe the glass blower being questioned about his involvement in the disappearance of a peasant girl.

Murray-Johnson can be seen in Wave II’s “Hair of a Dying Winter” by Ben Jolivet, in which a desperate hostess is willing to go to unnatural lengths to ensure the success of her holiday party.

The festival will take place July 12 through Aug. 4, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at Theatre 82, 82 Rolfe Sq. Advance tickets are $15 ($20 at the door).

For more information, visit www.artists-exchange.

org or call 490-9475.