Experience quick-witted ab-surdity with murdered communist revolutionaries, bipolar mother-in-laws and schizophrenic personalities this weekend.

No Refund Theatre will perform four one-act plays by David Ives and Christopher Durang in "A Night of One Acts," at 8 p.m. tomorrow and Saturday in 111 Forum. Both contemporary playwrights are well known for their style, categorized as theater of the absurd, in which characters engage in bizarre behavior unbeknownst to themselves.

"I love the idea of the fact that it's a dream-like state, but it focuses on the actors," director Sari Rothrock (junior-geography) said. "It's kind of wacky and fun to see what you can do with the characters."

Ives comically approaches the subjects of death and communism in Variations on the Death of Trotsky. Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, killed by his Mexican gardener with an axe to his head, dies nine times, each with a different interpretation of his death. The play incorporates the rumors that swarmed around his death, with many believing he was killed by an ice pick instead of an axe.

"[In one variation,] he knows there's an ax in his head, but he's not worried because he thinks he's killed by an ice pick," said Dustin Yenser (junior-secondary education), who plays Trotsky. "And when he finds out he was killed by an ax, he slumps over dead."

In Durang's 'Dentity Crisis, the central character, Jane, experiences continual confusion over the identity of another character, who appears to switch roles from the girl's father to her brother to her grandfather and a French count.

"I play Edith, Jane's mother, and she's a character that buys into the situation and thinks that nothing is abnormal and that Jane has the problem," Lindsey Dinsmore (junior-theatre) said.

English Made Simple, written by Ives, includes two people onstage being directed offstage by a professor who comments and directs them on "social etiquette." Yet when the professor doesn't give directions, the two characters veer off on their own tangents into more intimate conversation, actor Matt Comstock (sophomore-international politics) said.

"I think the purpose is, it sort of makes light of social conventions and that relationships are always healthier when you break out of these social conventions," director Jonathan Kroberger (junior-film) said.

As a couple plans to pay a visit to their mother-in-law, the visit takes a turn for the absurd when mother-in-law Naomi terrorizes her son and daughter-in-law in Durang's Naomi in the Living Room.

"Naomi goes back and forth from being a good hostess to being completely psychotic," Dinsmore said.

Yet Dinsmore said he believes that aside from Naomi's craziness, audience members will delight in the son's cross-dressing while the daughter attempts to keep her composure.

"I heard Durang's favorite movie was Some Like It Hot, and he thought guys in high heels is very funny, so there's lots of cross-dressing [in his plays]," Rothrock said.

Difficulties for the actors included memorizing a series of non-contextual lines, adopting new accents, cross-dressing and changing character.

"I skipped three or four lines today, and I didn't even realize it," Comstock said. "That's why I'm glad I'm only in that part because I have my hands full."

For Kroberger and Rothrock, showcasing works of their favorite playwrights allowed each of them to give it a go as first-time directors.

"I went through a lot of plays I wanted to do and couldn't do in a high-school setting, so this seemed like a good opportunity to get our feet wet and do stuff we've been wanting to do for a while," Kroberger said.

The directors hope to expose the audiences to pieces from relatively known authors who most people would normally not have the chance to see.

"We enjoy them, and we think the audience will, too," Kroberger said.