The One-Acts Festival is traditionally an opportunity for newcomers to the Stuyvesant Theater Community (STC) to show off their acting chops. Last year, the STC moved the One-Acts Festival to the spring in an effort to reduce competition for actors between the One-Acts and the fall musical. This year, the festival is being held in the fall once again.

English teacher and STC faculty advisor Mark Henderson said, “There really was no competition. The students who could sing were cast for the fall musical, and the students who just wanted to act auditioned for the One-Acts.”

“Getting a lot of people involved in something that doesn’t need singers is a way to balance out the fall musical. People who just act have something to do this way,” said senior and Studio Theatre Coordinator Susan Augenbraun.

One-act plays are brief and are usually no more than 20 minutes long. The STC chooses the plays being showcased at the festival, and the students who submit them usually direct them. The five one-act plays showcased this year are, as usual, quirky yet serious, and playful yet profound.

“Jimmy the Antichrist,” written by Keith J. Powell and directed by juniors Molly Schaeffer and Alex Garabedian, deals with alternative lifestyles. The Baileys are surprised when their son comes home on Thanksgiving with a male friend, whom they suspect their son is dating. Instead, they are shocked when their son announces he is the Antichrist. “I’ve seen [this play] in speech and debate, and always really liked it,” Schaeffer said. “It doesn’t require a lot of set, and focuses on the strengths of the actors.”

In a similar vein, “Tone Clusters,” written by Joyce Carol Oates and directed by senior Christina Martin, is a stylized interview with a middle-aged couple that discovers their son is a killer and a rapist. The play is widely considered to be a statement about the insensitivity of the media and the American justice system. Martin, however, is approaching it from a different angle. “I want to make it more of a personal story about this couple trying to deal with this tragedy,” said Martin. “It is something different and more intense than what is normally done.”

On the lighter side, “Brenda and Jerry,” written by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna, and directed by juniors Amy Crehore and Gaby Flamm, follows two single people as they pursue a one-night stand with each other. The main characters constantly get sidetracked, and each has a different agenda in mind for the night. “The whole play is very awkward in a funny, relatable way,” said Crehore.

“It’s like a romantic comedy, except with a little less romance and a little more sex-talk,” Flamm said. “Even though the characters are pretty outrageous, you can still relate to them.”

“Group,” written by Ethan Silverman and directed by senior Caroline Brickman, is about a group therapy session. “It’s very funny, but it also betrays something central about human insecurity,” Brickman said.

“Bong Hits 4 Jesus,” written and directed by junior James Dennin, is a dialogue between a student and a principal over the freedom of speech, inspired by the Supreme Court case Frederick v. Morse. A student who held up a banner outside a school with the words “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” was suspended by the principal. This June, the Supreme Court ruled that the principal can restrict students’ freedom of speech if the student’s actions promote illegal drug use. “The ruling raised the question of, to what extent do students have rights,” said Dennin.

Initially, the play focused on the student’s point of view. While revising the play, though, Dennin decided to make the play more objective. He said, “I changed it so that both sides are represented. Hopefully, the audience can draw their own conclusions.”

The One-Acts Festival will be held in the library on Thursday, November 1, and Friday, November 2.