A new wave of original student One Acts are coming to Moorpark College this April. Each of these short plays is roughly 15-20 minutes in length, and features its own unique characters and themes. They are shown in two separate bills on different nights, and each bill consists of seven One Acts.

Among the selection of plays that will be onstage are two tales of murder and insanity: “Mandir Manor Mystery” directed by Jen Talifenaro, and “Heroes’ Epilogue” directed by Kelce Casey.

According to Assistant Director Randy Morgan, “Mandir Manor Mystery” was inspired by the popular board game “Clue.” The story concerns a millionaire by the name of William Mandir (portrayed by Ben Birmingham) who gathers his family and friends at his mansion to discuss who will inherit his fortune.

Before he can do so, lightning strikes and he is murdered. The surviving guests then have to discover who the killer is before it’s too late. Morgan said that he had brought in sample audience members to watch rehearsals and give their opinion on the show.

“If I have the opportunity, I’ll have people actually come in and watch the show,” Morgan said. “If they have that audience member there, they can actually partake with the show.”

Another One Act that will be playing this semester is “Heroes’ Epilogue,” directed by Kelce Casey. The story concerns a “loser” (as Casey puts it) who has returned from a fantastical world called “Requalia” having completed an epic quest, and now intends to turn his life around.

“But he finds out that the real world is not like the fantasy world that he returned from, and he slowly breaks down into a narcissistic, self-serving psychosis,” says Casey.

Casey explains that the concept behind the story was inspired by the archetypal fantasy plot of a person from the real-world traveling into a magical setting to partake in a heroic quest and return having learned a moral lesson or acquired confidence.

Casey says that a pervasive trope in fictional works of that genre is that the (typically male) hero ends up being rewarded with a relationship with a female character or “Gifted the girl of his dreams as a present”, as she puts it.

Grace Liner, 23, Technical Theater major portrays such love interest (Kate) in the play. But by the time the main character comes back to win her heart, she’s already moved on and become engaged to his best friend.

“Sometimes it’s almost difficult to play Kate, because my heart bleeds for the character Richard having fought for her in his perspective. It’s very fascinating,” Liner says.

She takes great pains to point out that getting into character was emotionally difficult.

“It’s basically a process of suffering every rehearsal. As they say, if you don’t suffer, you don’t put on a good show,” Liner said.

The Spring 2014 One Acts will be on stage on April 30 at 7:30 p.m., as well as on May 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 at 7:30 p.m.

For more information or to purchase tickets refer to the Moorpark College Box Office, or online at http://sunny.moorparkcollege.edu/theatre/.