Although “One Acts” is frequently considered “not as good” as other Palo Alto High School Theater productions, the six one-act plays directed exclusively by theater students that opened Thursday, May 12, at the Haymarket Theater contrast that assumption. 

All six of the one-act plays, plays with only one act, featured comedy and humor in their own clever ways and, despite a few difficulties with lines for the actors and complications with illness, the acts were meaningful, amusing and are worth attending during its last showing at 7:30 p.m. today. 

The opening night started out with a sparse crowd; however, the enthusiastic response from the audience quickly made it obvious that the viewers were enjoying “One Acts.” 

The night kicked off with “The Actor’s Nightmare,” written by Christopher Durang, a professional playwright, and directed by senior Melissa Rudolf.

The play features George, a man who is reluctantly pushed on stage to perform different plays such as “Hamlet” and “Private Lives,” doing silly things such as slapping people, sitting in trash cans, and taking off his pants in the middle of the stage. 

Probably the most light-hearted of the pieces, until the very end where George loses his head, the act went very well, drawing laughter from the audience just seconds into the play.

“The Actor’s Nightmare” was followed by “Now and Tomorrow,” a one-act play written and directed by senior Arielle Fishman.

“Now and Tomorrow” adopts a more serious tone than the previous act, but it was nonetheless a pleasure to watch. Juniors Jake Vertin and Maytal Mark delivered a great performance, more heartrending than it was funny. The act maintained a few laughing moments when freshman Dashiel Grusky interupted the dialogue with little Bradley’s childish antics.  

“Daniel on a Thursday,” written by Garth Wingfield, another professional playwright, and directed by senior Melanie Brenton, starred senior Alex Sholtz and sophomore Thomas Zhao in a humorous and raucous conversation.

I must give props to Zhao at this moment, because his enthusiastic performance as Kevin gave a zest to the scene, and the difference between Sholtz and Zhao’s characters gave a pleasant mixture to the atmosphere of the scene. 

The showcase followed with “No Dakota,” written and directed by junior Grace Barry. Like all performances, not all showcases go perfectly; actor Noah Wotring, who portrays protagonist David, was too sick to show up to the performance.

Luckily, junior Zachary Daniel Freier-Harrison was able to fill in for Wotring. Although Freir-Harrison held the script during the entire play, he was able to pull off Wotring’s character very well, despite a few stumbles in his speech.

The funny quips and quirks of all the characters, particularly those of Matt, portrayed by junior Gabe Wolf, who had a funny penchant for Glee, Gossip Girl and Laura Ingalls Wilder, make the slightly depressing, slightly hopeful play a pleasure to watch. 

Senior Sam Bellows’ play “War is a Dance,” which followed “No Dakota,” was just as comical as the others, but faced a minor error when sophomore Jamie Livingston slipped once on her lines. However, Livingston recovered from the slight stumble quite nicely and, besides appearing a little flustered for a few seconds, managed to impressively retain character until the end of the act.

Last but not least was “The End of the World: A Brief Comedy,” written and directed by junior Crystal Liu. In an I Am Legend apocalypse situation, HE, played by junior Thomas Wade, and SHE, played by sophomore Emma Levine-Sporer, argue after realizing that they may be the only two people left in the world.

By the end of the night, I was amazed with the amount of talent and effort that Paly theater students had demonstrated.

The technical staff also had a great “performance” in their own sense, with mind-boggling lighting (the scene where HE and SHE first get through the apocalypse was very cool) and sound effects that added to the hilarity of the acts.

However, that doesn’t mean the showcasing didn’t come without its difficulties. For example, in “War is a Dance,” I found that the lights didn’t go off quickly enough, leaving Livingston teetering in character, waiting for the scene change.

Overall, although each play is much shorter than “My Fair Lady” or “Our Town,” the plot, character development and entertainment were as well developed as those of a two hour play. 

I recommend taking advantage of the last showing of “One Acts” for a great show. 

My only complaint is that I lost my pen while clapping for the brilliant, and sometimes overlooked, Paly “One Acts.” 

Tickets can be purchased at the door at the Haymarket Theater during tonight’s final showing of “One Acts.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Zachary Daniel Freier-Harrison is not a senior, he is a junior. This version of the story has been edited to reflect that. We are sorry for any inconvenience this mistake has caused you. Feel free to write us at [email protected] or post our facebook page for further corrections, comments, questions and/or suggestions.