160 plays. 800 brilliant australian artists. short+sweet.

Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) will host the launch of the Sydney 2011 Short +Sweet theatre festival on Tuesday 7 December from 6pm.

NIDA's elegant Nancy Fairfax Foyer will play host to hundreds of Sydney's finest actors, directors and writers as they gather to hear the official announcement of which brilliant ten-minute plays will premiere in Sydney this summer.

Short+Sweet founder Mark Cleary, Artistic Director Alex Broun and a slew of celebrity guests, actors, writers, directors and other prominent artists will all be on hand to mark the occasion.

Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney 2011 will present 160 works from January to February in two parallel venues – Newtown Theatre (Wed-Sun for 8 weeks from 5 Jan) and The Parade Theatres (NIDA) (Tues-Sat for three weeks from Feb 8). The competition, which features independent judges as well as audience voting, all climaxes in the Gala Finals, to be held on 11 and 12 March.

Short+Sweet began life at the Newtown Theatre in January 2002 and expanded to Melbourne (2005), Singapore (2007), the Central Coast of NSW (2007), Malaysia (2008), Auckland and India (2010). It also has regular seasons in Canberra and Brisbane. It is, quite simply, conquering the world… ten minutes at a time.

And the Sydney festival is also the feature of a hit annual Movie Extra series "To Be or Not to Be".

In its nine year history Short+Sweet has presented more than 1500 of the best ten minute plays from writers all over the world, with over 60% of those coming from Australian writers. A highly significant milestone for Australian theatre will be set this season, according to festival director and playwright Alex Broun.

"Short+Sweet is now the largest producer of Australian theatre on the globe," he said.

"I would argue that Short+Sweet has done more for Australian playwriting over the last decade than any other theatre company or organization in the nation."

Australian writers whose work have featured in the festival read like a Who's Who of Australian playwriting: David Allen, Alan Seymour, Hilary Bell, Ross Mueller, Kate Mulvaney, Suzie Miller, Daniel Keene, Nick Enright, Tom Holloway, Vanessa Bates, Van Badham, Christopher Johnson, Alex Broun, Noelle Janacewska, Patricia Cornelius, Brendan Cowell.

Short+Sweet veteran Sonal Moore just scooped the pool of rich prizes at the inaugural Dehli festival. Her play The Shadows took out best overall production as well as the People's Choice.

Short+Sweet has also played a role in discovering a whole wave of other exciting new playwrights including Wayne Tunks, Jane Miller, Ashley Walker, Cerise de Gelder, Mark Andrew, Tom Taylor, Carl J Sorheim, Nathan Curnow, Kate Toon, David Sharpe, Richard Graham, Steven Hopley, Con Nats, Charles Freyberg and David Bulmer.

Short+Sweet Theatre has also helped to launch the careers of many actors including Nicole da Silva, Renee Lim, Tom O’Sullivan, Matt Holmes, Rose Byrne and Trilby Glover – just to name a few.

Newly appointed S+S General Manager Fiona Beattie announced that this year again, local actors and directors also have a chance to be selected for Shorter+Sweeter, the professional touring arm of Short+Sweet which this year completed a hugely successful four month nationwide tour.

Short+Sweet's ability to attract younger audiences is the envy of many established companies.

"With national and international success for the festival, there is no better time to sample the tasty treats of Short+Sweet," says Founder and Creator of Short+Sweet International Mark Cleary.

The full program of works for Short+Sweet Theatre Sydney 2011 will be announced at the launch and published the following day on the website.