Last Sunday, the Undergraduate Theater Collective presented “Quickies,” the annual festival of student-written short plays. In the three weeks leading up to it, students wrote, cast and rehearsed eight different short plays which were performed at the SCC theater.

After the lights dimmed, “Coffee” kicked off the show with three groups of people in a coffee shop. Thanks to the well-written script, the play maintained a balance between the developments of each individual character and the overall context of overheard conversations in a public space. Each character told their own story, yet no one was removed from the environment.

Switching gears from the light-hearted coffee house, “Where the Sidewalk Ends” presented the Shel Silverstein poem of the same name. The cast portrayed some of the best children-played-by-college-students I have ever seen. It is also refreshing to see a poem represented in a new light.

Immediately following was “Another Night at the Red Light,” a period comedy about how the right-hand of the most powerful gang leader made the biggest mistake of his life. While it was a bit distracting to see the narrator reading most of his lines from the notes in his newspaper, his hilarious performance made up for it.

Speaking of great acting, “Forecast” transported the audience to a room where four people waited anxiously for “something” to happen while trying to decide whether or not to go outside. Because the audience never learns the nature of the mysterious element they are waiting for, the story’s mood swings between comedy and thriller, which is hard to successfully accomplish in such a short play. However, I do feel like ending the story by revealing the secret or giving any hint robs some of the satisfaction, even if it is the vision of the creators. 

Then, to ease the audience from the intense mood, “8 Limbs” offered  a hilarious safety instruction with a twist at the end, and caught the audience delightfully off guard. 

Carrying on the delightful spirit, “A Life’s Purpose” tells the story of a man in his afterlife struggle to accept what is believed to be “the most important moment of his life.” Seth Wulf ’21 showed that he is not only a skillful writer but also a tremendous actor. It also has one of the funniest supporting character of the night.

“A Favorable Audition” reanimated a classic high school theater audition story with unique characters. The interaction between the two distinctly different kinds of students, played by Alec Gelman ’22 and Rachel Lese ’21, had great chemistry from beginning to end.

At the end of the night, with its twelve-person cast, “Sunday Night Live” told the story of a theater student who dreamed of having her show on Saturday Night Live and three skits she wrote that relates to college students. From bothersome relatives to dealing with the friend who just came back from abroad, the show played out college students’ struggles hilariously. The way it utilized handheld signs to interact with the audience was also a smart technique, and the audience loved it. 

“Quickies” gives students who are interested in theater a chance to experience the whole process, from brainstorming to casting, without having to worry about spending too much time on a big semester-long project. The night was full of laughter and cheers, signifying its success and a potential call for more frequent events like it in the future.