“The Original Winter One Acts,” Ram’s Head’s winter production, hits the spot. In Stanford’s arguably bleakest quarter, the three short plays packaged into one show offer a drop of cultural relief that soothes the belabored mind. The board of Ram’s Head, Stanford’s oldest theatrical company, selects a student producer who then works with the board to choose three student directors, each of whom directs his or her own production. The result is a triptych of organic one acts, Stanford-grown from the writer all the way to the director and players.

 

“Sparkle Time,” the first installment of the evening, flows from the pen of Samantha Toh ‘11 and may just answer that ever-present suspicion that yoga seems a little too sexual for coincidence. The set to this light-hearted comedy provides insight into the plays’ plot: an orange yoga mat placed enticingly before a mirror draped in sparkly cloth, a studied arrangement of glassware and alcohol waiting to be drunk, a tempting red and black lacey bra tossed wantonly aside suggesting the sensuality to come. What begins as a tantric liaison quickly turns to a farcical conundrum as a frenzied woman balances her cuckolded husband, a mid-divorce sister and a forbidden lover. But what appears to be a simple situational comedy grows in absurdity and humor when a straight-laced cabaret surprises even the keenest of observers.

 

Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” ushers us into the next one act, “The Days.” This poetic piece reads like an ode to disastrous love with a stifled desperation like a choked scream. From the first scene, the palpable tension waxes and surrenders only in the play’s unique narrative manner. A love story in reverse, “The Days” plays with dramatic flares through the set and sound to heighten the tension of the love without feeling kitschy; the filmic flavor develops the drama in the period of a one act but with the intensity of a feature. Lawrence Neil ‘14 and Jessica Waldman ‘15 deliver painfully honest performances that swallow hard and drop down to the most vulnerable part of the audience’s belly. The pure brutality winds itself back to the stage of innocent bliss, coloring “The Days” with a predictable but deeply satisfying sense of soured love. Ashley Chang’s script feels like a raw “The Glass Menagerie” with the local color of modern day.

 

“Playing Co-Op,” written by Patrick Kelly ‘12, directed by Harry Spitzer ‘12, caps off the show with a Stanford-centric comedy of video games and desire. The story portrays two best-friend gamers of opposite sex who vie for the companionship of a recent transfer and fellow gamer of bisexual preference. Between the geeky Roy (James Seifert ‘15) and the abrasively glib Lisa (Amanda Hechinger ‘12), “Playing Co-Op” finds enough material to ride giggles into full-fledged guffaws. Cultural allusions, awkward situations and well-crafted wit waft a sense of comical absurdity over the very real phenomenon of Stanford courtship, nodding to the wholesome nature of such a contrived practice. Seifert, who starred as an ill-fated Leland Junior in Ram’s Head’s fall production, impresses again with tightly wound wordplay and tactical vibrancy. The awkward innocence of Seifert’s Roy plays against Hechinger’s artfully brash Lisa to create a hilarious charade that will have the audience ready for a sequel.

 

“The Original Winter One Acts” will be playing this weekend, Jan. 19-21 at 8 p.m. in Pigott Theater. Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for general admission and are available at tickets.stanford.edu, the Stanford Ticket Office, White Plaza and at the door.