A cheating wife, a drug-addict daughter and a pedophile are all in the car, and the audience is in the backseat this weekend in No Refund Theatre's production of Autobahn: A Short-PlayCycle.

The show, which had its first performance July 6, is a collection of short scenes played out in the front seat of a car, both figuratively and literally.

The crew rummaged through a wreck site to salvage two front seats and a steering wheel, and that's the set. The cast performs each scene sitting in these chairs, addressing the audience and occasionally turning the wheel.

Director Nicole Arias, Class of 2008, said that the audience will have to use a little bit of imagination.

"The biggest things about No Refund Theatre is that we really don't have these high-tech sets," said Jesse Cramer (senior-English), an actor in the show. "It can be a hindrance, but for this one, it really has no negative effect."

Each scene features two characters, in a car, working through some very intimate issues, Arias said. Though the two characters still work through an issue, in some scenes one of the characters does this silently.

"In their silence, they are communicating and giving the other character a reason to continue," Arias said.

Playing a silent character, Amanda Lundberg (graduate-astronomy) said it's not quite what people might expect.

"It's not as easy as it seems," she said, noting that the actors who don't speak must find other ways of communicating their characters' emotions.

While Arias agreed that

the silent roles pose challenges, they also pose opportunities.

Steve Travis (senior-meteorology), who plays both a speaking and non-speaking role, said that when he's speaking and the other actor is silent, he has to worry about just himself at that moment.

While playing a silent role is a challenget for actors of NRT, it is certainly not the only one.

One character, played by Cramer, has a secret relationship with the young girl in the passenger seat, played by Rachel Sweeney (sophomore-theatre).

"It was hard to just give him a few moments of humanity," Cramer said for Sweeney's role, adding that it required Cramer to maintain this character in a way that was not only believable but relatable.

One aspect was making his character "more than just a creep for no reason," Cramer said.

"There's something not quite right with him," he added.

Arias said throughout the mistakes and problems each scene faces, it is interesting how the characters, and also people in general, interact.

"Whether the person you're communicating to is talking

to you in words or in silence,

its funny how people twist things to mean what they

want them to mean," she

said.