Speed Limit 25 premiered Thursday in the black box theater, featuring both new and experienced actors and playwrights. The performance featured eight student written one acts ranging from absurdism and afterlife to SATs and eccentricity club.

“The theater veterans are fantastic (as usual),” said junior Andrew Nizamian who wrote and acted in The Afterlife As We Know It. “It’s all the new guys that bring that freshness to Speed Limit [though, which] defines it from most other plays at Paly.”

The performance had a good mix of comedy and drama to keep the audience engaged. Price of Denmark, directed by sophomore Tom Marks was hysterical. Mika Ben-Shaul portrays an eccentric director who may be too well in touch with her emotions, directing Hamlet with three equally off-beat actors. The play is centered on a visit from Shakespeare (junior Alex Gaya), where the director tries to show Shakespeare how wonderfully the now modern acting technique of work shopping is going. Clare Richardson, playing Ophelia, one of the kooky actors, makes the audience laugh throughout the act. Constantly looking in the clouds, she foils sophomore Hannah Miller playing Gertrude, a desperate actress who shows the complete absurdity of the director’s exercises.

Speaking of absurdity, The Plot, written and directed by Adam Magill was a clever depiction of the absurdist philosophy that we live in a meaningless, irrational world. Following the style of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, two brothers spend time in a graveyard together, waiting for Marcel, a supposed director for a play. Junior Adrienne Losch portrays the dark, satirical and very funny nature of Marcel as she narrates the story.

Many of the one acts dealt with prevalent high school issues, engaging the young audience and bringing a new and humorous light to these recurring themes of many students’ lives. Senior Rachel Wolf, who wrote and directed SAT, wrote her script last summer in hope of writing something that all high school students could relate to.

“[This subject is] unifying and emotions run high around it,” Wolf said. “Many students feel strongly, maybe too strongly about College Board. It was a very easy villain [to create.]”

Junior Ruthie Ryan plays the stereotypical stress case in Wolf’s play who after getting kicked out of the SAT decides to rebel against College Board. The play is creative in having the actors literally tackle College Board, traveling through the imaginary “road to success” of high school life. Originally this imaginary part was not part of the script, but teacher Kristen Lo suggested to Wolf that this would enhance the play.

Deviation From the Normal was a clever act involving five “eccentric” high school students who come to join the school’s eccentricity club. When the school journalist comes to interview them, the more serious message of the play is revealed, as the characters let out their inner quirkiness. Senior Royi Gavrielov constantly brought laughs to the audience as he climbed and ran around the stage with his blue towel cape around his neck.

The performances all had a clever touch, making the length of the show not get in the way of the audience’s interest. Whether depicting a crazy teenager enjoying high school life or a young girl suffering from anorexia, each act presented an interesting perspective on issues concerning young student’s lives.

Performances continue from May 16 through May 19. All performances are at 8:00 pm except for a matinee at 4:00 pm on May 16. Tickets are $5 for students and $7 for adults.