Both nights we attended the Oberlin Shorts, the actors were playing to a sold-out house. The student-directed, student-acted and student-written shorts go up every year after winter term in Little Theater, providing a venue for new talent. Split over two nights, this year’s six one-acts ranged from college-set drama to the New York socialite scene.

The first play in set A, The Best Shauna/The Worst Thing, written by junior Baraka Noel and directed by first-year Jon Comeau, assaults the senses with the arsenal of a bad dream. Set in a boarding school for gifted youth, it is quickly apparent that the youth are doing more with their time than studying. A gruesome game unfolds with unsettling rules that may not be broken and a choice no one should have to make. And, like a nightmare, it ends on an ambiguous note. Cast featured sophomore Barry Bryan, first-year Liz Galuardi, sophomore Brian Piper and junior Diona Reasonover.

Beyond Stage IV, the second play in set A, was written by senior Rebecca Brachman and directed by sophomore Paul McKenney. This short and bittersweet triangle involving a woman (sophomore Rachel Fine) and her husband (sophomore Quentin Jones), revolves around the misunderstandings sometimes cultivated in relationships. It runs the gamut of marital problems from suspected infidelity and failed pregnancy to possible divorce/separation and cancer. The play’s climactic moment is marked by Fine’s masterful handling of a wordless epiphany.

Brachman also contributed to set B with Blightsight or A Little Twist of Fortune, directed by senior Carl Hurvich. Arguably the most daring of the shorts, it opens and closes with senior Dan Cox arrogantly informing the other end of the telephone: “The first thing you need to know about writing one-acts is that you don’t know the first thing about writing one-acts!”

The cast, including seniors Julia Goldstein and Pete Chambers, as well as Bryan, Comeau and Fine, creates an idyllic and warped New York that is as cold and self-aware as the postmodern meta-storytelling methods that the play mocks by employing.

The last of set A, “The Mad Ones,” written by first-year Lisa Maley and directed by junior Brian Hogan, begins as a normal college dorm scenario. Junior Sarah-Violet Bliss plays a convincing boozed-up harlot next to senior Whitney Laucks’ good-girl Conservatory student, while Cox’s well-crafted Gabe bumbles his way through the worst first date ever. However, the drama runs itself through a series of downward spirals as the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the characters unwind. Hogan brings a masterful eye to the script, keeping the acting true to the Kerouac quote for which the play is named.

Laucks and Piper returned in “Commencement Week” of set B, written by junior Ella Ornstein and directed by sophomore Mary Notari. Set in a coffee house, this is the story of two college friends reuniting three years after graduation. Piper plays a remarkably weak-willed man who has been unable to separate from his college girlfriend even in light of his attraction to Laucks’ engaging and witty character. Ornstein’s fresh writing creates the most true to life characters seen in the shorts. At the end of the play, Piper goes off to his fiancé, supposedly to break up with her, while Laucks remains in the coffee house. Her face matches the audience’s lack of faith in the character’s ability to effect the change.

By far the most captivating of the shorts is the one-man “Air,” written by sophomore Jon Levin and directed by Reasonover. First-year Tom Curtin portrays a classical radio DJ working for a station that is broadcasting through 20 feet of concrete. Curtin’s performance is full of nuance, at times bored and others full of rage. In response to the information that the United States has been hit by nuclear bombs, he slowly descends into a form of madness as the realization that he may be the last man alive for miles sets in. Levin’s politically motivated script required incredible talent from both Reasonover and Curtin; each rose to the occasion, and the result was phenomenal.

Opportunities for student work to be displayed, like the Shorts, are important for Oberlin College, as they foster creativity and communication. This year’s plays demonstrated the enjoyment students receive from actively being a part of the shorts and/or watching the end product.