From aliens and schizophrenic feminists exploring the universe, to a couple playing nasty shenanigans on each other, this year’s student-directed One Acts will change the way we view student theater. In its 23rd year, One Acts offers more variety in acting, directing and staging than most full length plays. “There’s such a variety of different plays that you get to see in one show, and they’re often a lot weirder than what Shelby will choose to direct, so you get to see things done on stage that we wouldn’t do otherwise,” said junior stage manager Laura Fraley.

According to theater teacher Jim Shelby, one thing that makes One Acts unique is its independence from him. “Students choose the plays, they cast the plays and it’s completely student-run,” Shelby said. “For One Acts, it’s not about me, it’s about the kids and their artistic choices.”

“It’s a lot more exciting to be apart of—students take ownership of the whole event,” senior Sarah Hamburger, director of “The General of Hot Desire,” said.

Adaptation

In this satiric view of the American dream, the audience follows the life of a man named Phil Benson, played by sophomore David Brown, through the perspective of a game show. The game show host will act as a narrator, while the other two actors will play various characters that Benson encounters during his life. “The amazing thing about this play is that we only have four actors who play thirty characters,” senior director Henry Silverman said. Starting in the 1960s, this play will progress through time, with an overhead projector displaying images from historical developments during Phil Benson’s life, along with mostly rock music as the soundtrack.

Suicide in B-Flat

“Suicide in B-Flat” is a film noir type tale set in the 1920s of a jazz musician called Niles, played by senior Erik Petigura, who fakes his own suicide. But the play focuses on several characters talking about Niles. “It’s an exploration into the mind of a frenzied jazz musician and what music really means to him,” junior director Noel Carey said. The plot escalates further as two detectives, played by senior Misha Guttentag and sophomore Max Keeler, start an investigation into his mysterious death. Musicians seniors Adam Dohner (piano) and Josh Taylor (saxophone) set the mood with smooth jazz, playing in the background. “I am so excited to have such a passionate cast that is also so willing to go with me on this,” Carey said.

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (abridged)

A schizophrenic, elderly bag lady named Trudy, played by senior Caroline Hodson, takes her alien friends and goes on a journey through the universe, channeling various women’s lives along the way in this abridgement of the Broadway play of the same name by Jane Wagner. Senior director and abridger Alana Ju says that “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe” teaches important lessons in a fun mood. “The wit and wisdom are amazing,” Ju said. “She just really captures the life of women.”

One of the girls channeled is Agnus Angst, played by senior Caitlin Gjerdrum. “She’s an extremely vulnerable girl, but doesn’t want to show it,” Gjerdrum said. “By the end of the play, you see the source of her anger, her cynicism and the lessons she learns.”

As for the staging, Ju hopes to set off the lively personas, from bag-ladies to punk performance artists, with similar clothes. “The set will be very plain, but the costumes will be crazy,” she said.

The Twits

Based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name, senior adapter and director Aaron Shin’s “The Twits” promises to appeal to all ages. “I was thinking of doing a whimsical children’s play, but I’m leaning towards dark humor and innuendos, something that adults and kids can enjoy,” Shin said. Mr. Twit, played by senior Sina Kimiagar, and Mrs. Twit, played by sophomore Chloe Zelkha, have a very dysfunctional marriage—each tries to outdo each other with increasingly imaginative psychological and physical tricks. To make these tricks come alive, Shin’s piece will have several special effects. “I have my own tech crew, which is nice,” Shin said. “Since my One Act has a few staging difficulties, I think it’s great that I have all these people to move stuff and help bring the story to the audience.” Furthermore, a projector will superimpose the original images, drawn by Quentin Blake, from the Dahl book.

The General of Hot Desire

In “The General of Hot Desire,” nine college students, played by freshman Maev Lowe, sophomores Katelyn Hempstead, Zuri Ray-Alladice, Josh Knowles-Hinrichs, Genna Lipari, Iris Latour and junior Maria Cristina Lalonde are transformed into various characters from the Bible, such as Adam and Eve. The source materials for the play are two Shakespeare sonnets and “The Golden Legend”, a collection of hagiographies, or summaries of the lives of saints, which later became a medieval best-seller. “It’s hard to describe the plot, it has so many layers and hidden meanings to it,” senior director Sarah Hamburger said. “There are many interpretations to it, but mine is that the actors become the characters, and not just reenact their actions.” To engage the audience, Hamburger decided not to give the actors costumes, but to rather use their dialogue as a context of who their characters are.

The student directors, actors and techies have adapted and interpreted these seasoned stories and their diverse characters. Ju predicted a new audience reaction besides those depicted by the classical masks of tragedy and comedy. “They will laugh, cry and get goose-bumps,” she said.