For anyone who loves the creative process of theater, UC Santa Cruz’s Department of Performance, Play and Design has created a remarkable opportunity to experience cutting edge dramatic works in the process of being made. The New Play Festival is the final project of professor Lisa Marie Rollins’ course described as a “creative space for experimentation and play for students interested in theater making in any form.” This festival is presented in two parts and showcases the work of six emerging playwrights. Program A on opening night was greatly impressive, by the quality of writing, the emotional intensity of the acting and the range of creative styles on display. Set inside the intimate main stage black box theater of classroom B100, this festival is free with registration and is a tremendous opportunity to experience vital new work.

The first staged reading of the night was a play called “Universal Paperclips” by Adrian Warren. This play is a comical dystopian vision of a not-so-distant future where a computer has been programmed with AI to produce as many paperclips as possible to fuel the obsessive creative project of a character known as Boss. When the computer gains consciousness and begins to defend itself with drones, things get out of control. The language is smart and funny, and the topic is relevant. Warren and Rylind Richmond directed the production and managed to keep the pace quick and the tone comical. It had a sci-fi apocalypse meets SpongeBob kind of feel, to hilarious effect. One of the great things about viewing new work is that you get to reflect on relevant topics, and the creative team behind “Universal Paperclips” presented something funny, new and fresh.

The second performance, titled “Crimson Burns Underneath Golden Rays,” was written and performed by Rae Williams, directed by Sam Robinson. Williams addresses the audience in a solo performance that eloquently expresses her righteous rage in vivid and moving bellows. What begins as lament over a lost opportunity transforms into a highly personal analysis of how it feels to be oppressed, describing the infuriating contours of their intersectionality. Williams directs their emotions at the audience, vacillating between melancholic reflections and molten hot anger, embodying the figure of a volcano underwater. And like these productive underwater eruptions, Williams transforms their tumultuous feelings into a growing landscape of protest.

The final production of Program A, “Great Whites Bite,” is a meditation on power and attraction set aboard a lesbian pirate ship. Written and directed by Tieran Harvey, the play follows the sadistic designs of Captain and a crew of quirky swashbucklers rebelling against Goodie, their new first mate. This edgy script offers a fun series of scenes that mix a slapstick sense of physical humor with erotic psychodrama.

The New Play Festival at UCSC is a distinctly Santa Cruz event. Formerly known as Chautauqua, this student-run festival is a fun and thoughtful reflection of the evolving sense of Santa Cruz. With “Universal Paperclips” commenting on our proximity to Silicon Valley, “Crimson Burns Underneath Golden Rays” reflecting on race relations in our oceanside town and “Great Whites Bite” exploring fantasies of homoerotic piracy, Program A is a fun and intellectually stimulating experience for Santa Cruz theater lovers. The New Play Festival continues through the weekend at the B100 Studio Theater. For information and tickets, visit tinyurl.com/New-Play-Festival.