On May 23, Venice High’s Theater Department hosted the second Annual One Act Play Festival in the newly renovated auditorium. This is a breakdown of all the plays that were put up this year.

Bird Girl And The Hammer by Bethany Dickens

This play was LGBTQ+ friendly showing a relationship between a lesbain couple being heroes while helping each other and the world.

Most of the costumes looked more homemade, which made it feel more personal.

The actors looked like they love what they do and they worked hard to put on a good show.

The props were good as well, and the couch looked comfy like a marshmallow.

Blue by Emily Hageman

In Blue, the same scene played over and over again, like it was on loop. It was about a grandma who was talking to their grandchild about how their husband was an awesome pilot; but in the end he dies while she was pregnant with her child. It replayed four times in total and I feel like some were repetitive which I didn’t like. If it starts repeating, it starts to get boring.

The people that were in this play are: Aiyanna Mendoza as Lilith, Carissa Eves as the grandma, and lastly Michelangelo Lucero as Grandpa Lou. This play wasn’t my favorite, even though the acting was well done.

Can This Marriage Be Saved? By Rich Orioff

I really enjoyed the show and the colorful bright blue lights looked really good at the beginning. 

The actors that were in this play are Willow Coder as God, Aiden Weiss as The Human, Michelangelo Lucero as The Judge, and lastly Sam Jones as The Bailiff.

They all had a part and I believe it was one of the strongest plays out of the whole thing.

The play was filled with emotion and you can see the anger or sadness in the eyes of the actors. The actors were breathtaking and they looked like they took a while to practice their craft and what they do as a class.

The things that made me excited were the lights and sounds in the play, as in when one of the actors said,”Go to hell” bright red lights started to show. 

Some of the things I saw on the stage that I thought were clever is that they reused some props. For example they had a black tall rolly desk and they switched out a paper for it to be a judge table and a Starbucks counter.

How’s Bruno by Cary Pepper

This play was spy-themed, in which the main character almost died.

The lighting was well done as well and the colors were cool colors also some had a laser pointer. The actors in the play are: Elias Giaimo as nick, Maisie Isom as Man #1, Audris Holzer as Man #2, and lastly Elize Waters as Bruno. 

All these actors did really well and it was very funny to watch.

The setting was a Starbucks and they reused a prop from the first play.

I Can’t Stop Thinking Today by Annie Evans

Summer Hamzeh did a monologue about thinking and it was well done. It talked about death the whole way through. It was interesting, however very different from the rest since it had a lot of emotion. This was good but also it made me sad and uneasy.