It’s that time of year again! It’s your very own Nederland Middle-Senior High School’s fall plays. The doors open at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 3 and Saturday, November 4.

On Friday, the school will be showing three one-act plays. The first play is called Between the Lines. This play is based on actual newspaper headlines, mixing fiction with facts. We meet a celebrity stalker, an unfaithful husband, a polygamist, a man with a unique gift for his wife, the parents of a missing child, and others, in a series of scenes and monologues that range from heartbreaking to bizarre. Then it’s revealed there’s always more to the story when you read between the lines.

The next play is Triple Threat, in which the babysitter, Ariel Watson, is watching the 13-year-old triplet daughters of a famous scientist and his wife. What Ariel does not know is that the triplets have a time-traveling device in their bedroom, which brings copies of themselves out of a parallel universe. Soon there are nine girls in the house and then twelve. Ariel does not believe what is happening, until the visitors begin telling her, a piece at a time, that her future self has had a terrible “thumb accident.”

By the end of the story, Ariel is frantic to get to the future and stop herself, much to the entertainment of the triplets and their friends who have pulled off the joke in order to have a party right under the babysitter’s nose. Easy casting, as the triplets are not identical. In fact, their physical differences may create even more humor.

And lastly, Reverse Hamlet. Reverse Hamlet is all about the question, is Hamlet all that he pretends to be? Did he really see his father’s ghost? Critics for years have argued about how to interpret Shakespeare’s Hamlet. This one-act spoof by George Freek suggests some rather unusual answers. The dialogue comically mixes Shakespearean quotes and phrases with contemporary expressions, giving viewers a hilariously different look on the original play.

Then on Saturday we will have two one-act plays and our talent show acts. The first play is called Teen Court. This play focuses on Tawny Linkletter, who is “Miss Everything” in high school. She even won the school fight song contest with her entry “We Bite.” Everything was going great until she was charged with stealing the tune from another source. Now she faces a charge of plagiarism in the second degree and is due in Teen Court for the school trial of the decade.

The prosecutor, Odessa Permian, is experienced and looking for the big conviction. The bad news for Tawny is that her school-appointed defense counsel, Archer Attaway, is the highschool “loser” and is not known for his skill in anything, much less legal defense. The prosecution has several high-profile witnesses who are willing and eager to testify against Tawny in the school courtroom. Can Archer overcome enormous odds to ensure that justice is done in the high-school Teen Court trial of the decade? Well, you’ll have to come see and find out!

After this play we will take a small break and watch the talents of the students and how amazing they are!

Then we will end the night with Twelfth Night, adapted by Jon Jory from the play by William Shakespeare. This play has the character Viola, separated from her twin Sebastian, dressing as a boy and working for Duke Orsino, with whom she falls in love. Orsino is in love with the Countess Olivia, and sends Viola to court her for him, but Olivia falls for Viola instead. Sebastian arrives, causing a flood of mistaken identity, and marries Olivia. Viola then reveals she is a girl and marries Orsino.

These are all wonderful plays acted and directed by your very own Nederland students.