We've all been through it or at least knows someone who has.

This weekend No Refund Theatre will explore the trials and tribulations of that messy word "love" through a student-written play titled What Happened When I Woke Up. . .

The three-act play is the product of a collaborative effort between two NRT members, Valerie DiMambro (junior-theatre) and Mike Still (sophomore-philosophy and political science).

DiMambro wrote the first act during a bout of summer boredom after returning from a trip to England. She wrote about 22 pages and shortly thereafter wrote dialogue.

The play revolves around Lisa, an 18-year-old college freshman and her first relationship. DiMambro wrote the first act in a semi-autobiographical way, focusing on the nature of the relationship being presented.

"When writing a play you picture it in your head with faceless actors, but when we put it onstage there was a lot of revising in ourselves and being able to accept new ideas," DiMambro said.

Still and DiMambro worked together in a production of The Taming of the Shrew and decided to work together on the second and third acts, which examine the heroine's lack of psychological coping with her relationship.

"It's about how we teeter on the edge of insanity after a break up," Still said.

Not only did DiMambro and Still write the script but they directed the play as well. Writing was easy in comparison to directing DiMambro said.

According to Still the first act is emotionally trying on Christina Lecker (sophomore-theatre) who plays the lead role of Lisa. It was hard trying to make the transition from sincerity in the first act to absurdity in the subsequent acts he said.

"I had to keep in mind the three shows are steps within the main character's relationship and how it has created shock waves in her life. She dives into everything and that's why she falls so hard for Eric," Lecker said.

Eric, played by Eric Furman (junior-finance and international business) is an indecisive character who loves Lisa but is unsure of his feelings.

"He's toying with her and she's getting more and more abuse from him but he doesn't realize this," Furman said.

DiMambro hopes that the audience will come away thinking the play is like something they'd never seen before. Unlike other NRT productions, What Happened When I Woke Up also includes a dance number.

"You have a lot more leeway with scripts and you make changes freely. You don't have to get clearance from anyone. You get to work with people who are open-minded. It's great," Furman said.

Performances will be tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. in 111 Forum Building and are free of charge.