Seven excited Paly theater students sat down to watch their own plays acted out by professional actors on Wednesday at the Mountain View Performing Arts Center.

Seniors Mika Ben-Shaul, Keely Flanagan, and juniors Ashley Lamb, Marc Leclerc, Daniella Mizrahi, Alex Nee, and Alice Wertheimer wrote plays during a Theatre Works’ workshop, titled Young Playwright’s Initiative. Prince Gomolvilas, Theatre Works’ playwright-in-residence, has worked with the Drama 3/4 class since February, and the seven plays performed on Thursday represented the best works from the class.

Wertheimer wrote “Let’s Do the Mind Warp Again,” a play about a girl who is lost in her own head. The main character falls in love with a good-looking musician who cannot sing, although her guy friend from elementary school is her “weirdo” or perfect match.

“It kind of came to me when I was just thinking about how I’m a really weird person and I get stuck in my head sometimes,” Wetheimer said about the source of her play idea. “And I thought it would make a funny play.”

Leclerc’s play, “Dice,” tells the story of six 30-year-olds who have not changed since sixth grade and continue to play the game “Castles and Creatures.”

“It came a long time ago when I was playing the actual game, D and D [Dungeons and Dragons],” Leclerc said. “And I was talking to my friend about how funny it would be to do a play of a kid playing D and D. We were going to write it together. But unfortunately, it just came into play during the playwriting project, and he didn’t have time to do it.”

For Lamb, the flow of play ideas wasn’t as straightforward.

“I definitely switched my topic like twenty times,” Lamb said. “I thought I liked the play idea, but I don’t know where I’m going with it. And then Alice Wertheimer said I should put zombies in it, so I did.”

Lamb’s eclectic combination of George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry” in her play, “Flathead,” drew many laughs from the audience.

Kristen Lo, Paly’s former theater teacher, came to see her protégés’ plays.

“I’m so proud of these amazing adults that used to be my students, and their work is really cool,” Lo said. “Putting professional actors behind it makes it more serious. And all the selections are different, so it keeps the audience entertained.”

For Nee, it was most enjoyable to see his and his peers’ work put into action.

“It was great and all the actors were incredible. I was really surprised at how fast they picked it up, and the directors were really creative,” said Nee, author of the play “One, Two, Three….” “It is really cool to see everyone’s plays, which we have seen in writing, but now to see it is amazing.”

Daniella Mizrahi wrote “Parallels” a story about two women in the same situation decades apart. “Point Two Miles to Destination” by Mika Ben-Shaul was a humorous look at talking navigation systems. Keely Flanagan explored a high school girl’s fantasies in her play, “Virginia City.”

Editor’s note: This version correctly indicates that the event occurred on Wednesday, April 30, not Thursday, May 1.