Northern direction

This is a week of sevens and shorts with today’s North End Film Festival and tomorrow’s “Fall Shorts.’’ Blackburn Performing Arts has assembled a collection of seven short plays by North Shore playwrights covering TV talk shows with guests you don’t want to meet, playground mothers sharing margaritas, the latest in funeral fashion, and more. The 10-minute funny and thought-provoking plays will be performed by North Shore actors who were given their marching orders by North Shore directors. Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. (through Oct. 25). $15. Blackburn Performing Arts, 1 Washington St., Gloucester. 978-281-0680. (Nov. 13-22 at the Actors Studio of Newburyport). www.blackburnperformingarts.org