Students run all stop signs as Speed Limit 25 zooms toward opening night tonight, Feb. 27. Students will perform a series of student-written and directed one-act plays’ a rare opportunity to reveal their talents to the community.

"The plays are directed, acted, designed — everything, by people under 25," drama teacher Kristen Lo said.

"Everything is really fresh," sophomore director Kim Schisler said.

Far from insolent and brimming with perspective, the plays are both insightful and peculiar, according to Lo. "They are about tons of different topics: divorce, eating disorders, friendship, teen pregnancy, gay and lesbian stereotypes, cell phones — fun stuff!" Lo said.

Speed Limit 25 tackled issues often addressed toward teens. Schisler’s controversial play, Under Glass, discusses the issue of abortion from the perspective of an unborn baby. Director Blake Wilson deals with no such controversy in his play, A Gut Wrenching Tale,. "It’s about a boy growing up told from the inside of his stomach," Wilson explained.

The two hours of performances will be held in the Haymarket Theater, where nearly 120 audience members will sit on the stage with the actors in an imitation "black box theater". This venue is a black, enclosed theater without a risen stage, and creates a more intimate setting with the audience. Each performance is comprised of 10 different one-act plays, ranging from five to 15 minutes long.

Don’t let the name fool you Speed Limit 25 is fast-paced and entertaining. Constant work and commitment have been required to overcome the challenges of directing.

"Every day I do something," sophomore director Sam Marks said. "This play has taken over the last three weeks of my life."

Senior Olivia Pratt, director of "What You Can’t See," agrees with Marks, and adds that despite the work, directing has been a very rewarding experience. "I’m so excited," Pratt said. "Stressed, but excited."

While directing is a long and grueling process, Marks had a different experience writing his play.

"I wrote it in one night (while experiencing) insomnia," Marks said.

Marks describes his play, "Bluff," as, "what people are really thinking, particularly poker players and college students."

In addition to the responsibility of directing, each of these students are also acting in Lo’s one-act production on cell-phones — "Play".

Lo said she cast the directors for her plays so their own casting processes would not be affected by her self-interests.

In addition to the dedicated directors, techies put countless hours of time into helping with all technical aspects of the plays. "If it were not for us," junior lights designer Jocelyn Squires, explained. "There would just be naked people on an empty stage with a flashlight."

Techies are in charge of most of the dirty work that directors don’t have time to deal with, such as advertising and painting the stage. Though all of the jobs are important, some require far more skill than others.

"The difficulty of acting or teching depends on the size of your part and the responsibility of your work," said junior Sam Badger, who does both in Speed Limit 25.

Regardless of this time commitment, the directors are glad that they were given this opportunity.

"I feel honored I was given the chance to do this, and hope I don’t blow it," Schistler said.

Marks agreed: "It’s a kick-off of what I can do in the next two years."

Lo said that Speed Limit 25 is a good place to begin both acting and directing, especially for freshmen.

"I’m so happy with the freshmen and the new faces, and I hope to see new faces for tryouts of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’" Lo said.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the next play at Paly. "[It’s] going to be outside," lights manager junior Simon Goldeen said. Auditions will be held in March and performances will be in May.

Lo expects high-standard performances from both directors and actors of Speed Limit 25.

"I’m really proud of the work of students so far; the directors are handling themselves wonderfully. I’ve seen some great acting. I’m really excited about it," said Lo.

The performances will be 8 p.m. Feb. 28 and March 1, 4 p.m. Wednesday March 5, and 8 p.m. March 6 ,7 and 8. Tickets are $5 in the theater during or after school, or at the time of the performance.