On April 25 and 26 at 7:30 pm, the One Acts—hilarious and bubbling with student energy—will be back for their 37th year!
The annual One Acts is a series of plays typically around 20 minutes long, and interludes, which are usually 5 minutes long and interspersed throughout the festival. The entire event is student-run: students direct, write, act in, build sets and design costumes for each act, creating a lively and humorous show.
The One Acts process starts with course requests, where students must apply to be in LWHS theater teacher Miguel Zavala’s Directing class, offered every other year, to become a director. This year’s directors are Arlo Waingortin ’25, Asher Weston ’25, Augie Nice ’25, Nala Urrutia ’25, Ollie Garfinkel ’25, Savannah Harris ’25 and Thalia White ’25.
Nice described his excitement about this year’s One Acts: “Since we have fewer guidelines to follow, just having complete control and being able to be honest with my writer and speak to them like an equal since we’re just both students is really nice,” he said.
photo courtesy of Vidigami
One play he is excited about is Bootleg, written by Lazlo Martinez ’26. “It’s truly hilarious,” Nice said. “It’s about the filming of this really bad movie, but they do a terrible job, and everyone’s, like, crazy and funny.”
During auditions, students improvise and perform from a script with a partner. Directors call back groups of potential actors to see them in more specific roles. “When I was watching everybody, I was looking for specific attributes that reminded me of the character they were gonna play,” Nice said.
One of the Bootleg actors, Soluna Ibarra-Tacdol ’26, appreciates the One Acts festival for its organic nature. “There’s so much energy and excitement that goes into creating the One Acts, so I always just love the community sense that being part of it gives me,” she said.
Ibarra-Tacdol is looking forward to one in particular: written by Noa Solomon-Carmel ’26, Laser Tag, Bruh is about a fraternity trip to laser tag turned murder mystery.
Inspired by her love of comedy TV shows, Solomon-Carmel decided to give One Act-writing a try, and started jotting down funny or unexpected situations when they came to her. Her interlude, Open Casting Call, about an audition to be the second person on Earth, was born from the idea of having an audition where the casting director is God.
photo courtesy of Vidigami
“I feel like [the One Acts] is a way for people to turn their random ideas into really impressive performances,” Nice said. Solomon-Carmel is hoping her acts live up to the expectations of the beloved festival. “I am really hoping mine don’t flop! If someone comes out on opening night and is like, oh my God, that was really good–except for that weird laser tag one, I’ll be so sad,” she said.
Ibarra-Tacdol expressed love for the student-centered nature of the One Acts. “I’m excited just to see all the people who normally don’t act because they really put themselves out there and usually they are so good and hilarious,” she said.
Be sure not to miss this year’s One Acts!
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