Paly students performed “The School Bell Always Rings Twice” the first of this year’s Brown Bag Lunch Shows, at lunch on Friday, Nov. 7, in the Haymarket Theater.

Brown Bag Lunch Shows are new to Paly. Students bring their lunch into the theater to eat while watching the performance.

There will be three other Brown Bag Lunch Shows this year to follow “The School Bell Always Rings Twice.”

Jonathan Friedman, the writer of “The School Bell Always Rings Twice,” is a former student of Paly theater teacher, Kathleen Woods.

“Jonathan is one of Mrs. Woods’ old students from her previous teaching job,” the one-act’s director senior Marc Leclerc said. “When I couldn’t find a one-act to direct, Mrs. Woods suggested I do his piece and I thought it was hilarious.”

“The School Bell Always Rings Twice” is about Sam, a Playground Investigator or P. I., seeking to rid his elementary school of the terrors of “the Godbrother.” “The Godbrother” sells cheat sheets on tests for comic books, kidnapping the doll of a little girl who fails to pay.

Rather than making sets, Leclerc cast actors as swings, monkey bars, and other set pieces.

“I felt that human props would work best because we had a low budget, and we couldn’t afford to have tech that would make the play go slower,” Leclerc said. “So, we thought up the idea of human props and I think it worked out.”

The one-act was supposed to be performed at lunch on Oct. 28, but the cast did not feel prepared, according to sophomore cast member Grace Borchers.

“The show was postponed because we felt like we needed a bit more time to put the show on,” Borchers said. “It was so hard for everyone to show up everyday at lunch, and then Spirit Week. Also most people could not commit to working after school on the show, so that was a problem also.”

In the end, Borchers was pleased with the outcome of the show.

“I feel that the show went well,” Borchers said. “We had a great director, Marc Leclerc… We had fun and we put on a cool show.”