In any collection of short performances, there are bound to be favorites as well as pieces that are overshadowed by the others.

For the second Play in a Day of this school year, that was certainly the case as the beginning and ending performances were much more memorable then those in between. Nevertheless, the fact that Paly students and alumni were able to create such memorable plots, characters, and lines in such a short time showcases the talent found at Paly.

On Friday, student and alumni playwrights, directors, and actors received their challenge: to incorporate a theme, costume, and two props into a seven-minute play. The participants had 12 hours to write, rehearse and perfect their shows. Those involved signed up to participate earlier this month.

For this Play in a Day, all of the performances, save the last, were required to somehow allude to an assigned board game in order to pertain to the theme.

One twist to this year’s performances was that the collection of scenes ended with the performance of junior Caleb Jones’ “Daylight,” a one-act play that was written beforehand but prevented from being performed at a Brown Bag lunch because the admin team, a group of Paly teachers, advisers, and administrators, thought its content was inappropriate.

However, to keep in the spirit of Play in a Day, Jones was given a plant and an umbrella that he had to incorporate into his play, which he did with much success.

Play in a Day shows are typically comedies, and this year was no exception, as a majority of the plays were hilarious.

Paly graduate John Beamer’s “Camping Stink” made its tie to the game Connect Four abundantly clear within the first few minutes. The name of the game was entwined early in the script, as one of the characters over-emphasized it while describing how the four friends were going to bond over the course of their camping trip.

Also, Beamer used dramatic irony to induce the audience’s laughter. Members of the audience were able to discern when humorous facts were going to be shown to them and so were kept waiting for another chance to burst into laughter. This maintained the audience’s attention, and its funny ending made “Camping Stink” one of the night’s favorites.

Paly alumna Elissa Olson’s “The Stick Horse,” which briefly alluded to the game Hungry Hungry Hippo, was no exception to the comical trend either, as her play involved a time of year associated with complete joy and heartbreak: prom season. Freshman Justin Krasner-Karpen and junior Nathan Wilen, who played the characters of Harry and Max respectively, gave excellent performances as two best friends who were foils of each other when it came to the annual dance. Both actors had excellent timing when delivering their lines, which only added to the fun of watching the performance.

The next two performances fell a bit short. Junior Jack Lawrence’s “The War that Almost Happened” had an interesting premise based on the game Battleship but the long wait for the climax left the audience a bit bored. The ending was unexpected — a delayed applause revealed that the audience was unsure if the play was finished or not, and the clearest indication that it had finished was when the props and set began to be cleared from the stage.

The most memorable aspect of “Are YOU a Thespian? (An All Girl Play)” was not the allusion to the board game Candyland or the parody of the atmosphere at Paly, which was described as a “competition to see whose life sucks the most,” but sophomore Arielle Fishman’s portrayal of an over-enthusiastic theater student. Particularly enjoyable was Fishman’s version of a song from the Broadway musical Rent and her use of one of the assigned props — a three-legged cat. The rap at the end of Fishman’s play was off-beat, but nevertheless enjoyable, and could have used more rehearsal time. However, given the short preparation time, this would have been difficult.

“The War that Almost Happened” and “Are YOU a Thespian? (An All Girl Play)” seemed to both lack character development, as the performers portrayed what could be considered stock characters.

The following four plays were each humorous in their own ways.

Senior Ian Dunbar’s “A Sit-Down Interview with Cavity Sam” relied on the game Operation for inspiration, and used flashbacks to tell Cavity Sam’s life story. The acting was good and the jokes were memorable, but Dunbar’s decision to fade to black at the beginning and end of every flashback became a bit tiring. The use of lighting to portray a flashback was used well; it was just used too many times.

Senior Tom Mark’s “It’s a Trap” united three nerds’ girlfriends on a television show “So You’re Dating a Nerd” to test their knowledge of their boyfriends’ obsessions, reminiscent of the game Trivial Pursuit. All four of the actors completely adopted their characters while on stage -– seniors Tess Bellomo and Hannah Miller played stereotypical nerds to perfection. Junior Maddie Sykes portrayed a girl dating a closet nerd; to the world he was captain of the football team, but at times he secretly transformed into a guy who played Dungeons and Dragons and attended Renaissance fairs. Although at first Sykes’ character seemed like the coolest one in the bunch, aside from the host, by the end she revealed herself to be a nerd in a different sense, her obsession being football.

“Bam Bam Palooza,” written and directed by senior Ashley Lamb, and Paly graduate Brian Jewkes’ “Don’t Wake Daddy” each had their funny moments. In Lamb’s play, which had the prompt of the board game Chutes and Ladders, three friends, all under the influence of drugs, took a trip to Disneyland after it closed. Although the characters were similar, they each had different quirks that made their interactions amusing and entertaining to witness. Also, the use of the entire theater at the end was unique to this performance.

“Don’t Wake Daddy” took a very literal interpretation of the board game and tied it into the stressful academic and parental pressure that often plagues students. It was cute, funny, and enjoyable, but the following one-act overshadowed it.

Maybe it was because it had more rehearsal time, maybe it was because it had previously been prevented from being shown at Paly, or maybe it was the disclaimer before it even began, but Jones’ “Daylight” was the highlight of the evening.

In an interview with The Paly Voice, Jones said his play was “about the interactions of Age and Youth and the sort of the mature and immature sides of a person…not much older than us and how they deal with a very mature situation.” The play is indeed on the surface about a mature situation — a man and a woman wake up in her apartment, are not wearing certain articles of clothing and cannot remember anything that happened the night before.

Despite the situation portrayed, the one-act is quite funny, thanks to the two other characters in the room –- Age and Youth –- two contrasting aspects of the woman’s mind. Freshman Emelyn Riley Hick’s portrayal of Youth was phenomenal, partly because of her timing and the script. It was interesting to watch how Youth and Age interacted in the woman’s mind, and how freshman Ali Dwight as the woman dealt with the situation in reality. Senior Marc LeClerc gave an excellent performance throughout the entire play as the man. The audience could not glimpse into his mind, but LeClerc’s talent on stage in addition to the script provided natural insight into his thoughts.

Play in a Day is an annual tradition at Paly, and after watching the nine unique performances, one can see why. The natural ability and talent of Paly students and alumni expressed through Play in a Day demonstrate that creating a play from scratch within such a limited time frame, a seemingly impossible task, can be done, and it can be done extraordinarily well. Each Play in a Day is something to look forward to because the creativity and talent of its participants make for a truly remarkable evening.