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Ryan Doolittle and Arielle Greenspan write their play, "A Different Approach." / Photo by Samuel Kim

It’s Saturday at 1 a.m. Nine students, spread throughout various Ryder Hall classrooms, type busily on their laptops. Though they might appear to be working on papers and other schoolwork, they are all writing short plays.

The students are participating in the fourth “8 to 8: 24-Hour Play Festival,” simply known among them as 8 to 8. Two Northeastern student theatre groups work together to host the biannual event: Acting Out and NU Stage Musical Theater, more commonly referred to as NU Stage.

Sebastian Hymson, NU Stage’s president and a third-year bioengineering major, said 8 to 8 traditionally begins at 8 p.m. on a Friday and ends a little past 8 p.m. the following day.

Writers, actors, directors and technical managers from the two organizations work together once a semester to write and perform multiple 10-15 minute plays within that time. This year, five groups worked together Friday and Saturday to write and perform five different plays that explored themes like discovering one’s sexuality and listening to the voices in our heads.

“I think 8 to 8 is pretty unique to the NEU community,” Hymson said. “It’s a really great experience for different groups to come together and get comfortable enough to create these ridiculous shows.”

Acting Out’s president Katherine “KC” Hut, a third-year behavioral neuroscience major, said 8 to 8 brings Northeastern students from different social circles together.

“8 to 8 gives people the opportunity to be involved in theatre, especially since there’s so many roles to it,” Hut said. “People who normally aren’t involved in theatre participate — it’s not just theatre majors.”

To make the process for the writers a bit more challenging and interesting, Hut and Hymson required that the writers include four lines in their scripts: “Contrition is for the spineless,” “Man delights not me,” “Chi Gong” and simply something snake-like that would embody the seven deadly sins. All four were from upcoming Acting Out and NU Stage productions.

One of the 8 to 8 plays, titled “Ding-Dong, It’s the Gays,” was about high schoolers Mike, Sam and Laura, who are discovering their sexualities. The play also centered around how Sam’s parents responded as she explored her sexuality.

Samuel Berin, a fourth-year computer science major, played Sam’s father. Berin is the president of the Creative Writing Society and encouraged others in the club to participate in 8 to 8.

“8 to 8 is cool, because its interdisciplinary,” Berin said. “It allows writers to see their work performed, which is really special if you’re an amateur writer.”

James Evans, a fifth-year psychology and linguistics combined major, played Mike.

“A lot of my friends are computer science majors and they have hackathons. And those are really cool because they create amazing new things,” Evans said. “This event embodies that spirit and I’m glad to be able to participate in this. It’s an ‘actathon.’”

First-year computer science and psychology combined major Daniel Lutz of Acting Out directed “Support Group,” a play depicting a five-person support group session to look deeper at the feelings we keep bottled inside. He said he enjoyed working with the actors to bring the script to life. Even though there wasn’t much plot progression, he said the audience learned a great deal about the characters.

“The script is simultaneously so simple, but the more you work with it, you realize that there’s a deeper meaning within it,” Lutz said.

The third of the night’s plays, called “A Different Approach,” was about the consequences of listening to the voices inside one’s head. Sadie, the main character, starts to wonder if her two friends often hang out without her. She starts listening to the voices in her head, characterized by a snake-like character.

Anthony Speros, a first-year business administration major, played the snake-like character.

“I like being the snake character a lot,” Speros said. “I like the character work I can do and expand upon and bring my own interpretation to it. It’s cool being seductive and the character like Kuzco [from ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’] that people don’t necessarily like but still has an impact.”

Creative Writing Society members Dan Carr, a first-year undeclared student, and Jose Castillo, a fourth-year computer engineering major, wrote “Tricks, Not Illusions.” It is about a witch named Aiedynee who runs a magic stand and focuses on her humourous daily interactions with customers.

Castillo said he and Carr initially were not sure how to integrate all four lines they were required to include. Once they discussed the plot and characters, though, things changed.

“The ideas came naturally and the quotes ended up working in perfectly,” Castillo said.

Annie Pahlow, a third-year communication studies major and a NU Stage actress, played Aiedynee in “Tricks, Not Illusions.”

“It’s fun to meet with people that I don’t know,” Pahlow said. “People have different approaches and we work together. Everything comes together in a weird last-minute sort of way, and it works out great.”

The last play, “TLC Presents: Vivian Joins a Cult,” was written by Laura Acosta, a third-year history major and vice president of marketing in Acting Out. It was a spin-off of the Bachelor and a satire of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Acosta said she enjoyed writing her play in such a short time, in addition to seeing what directors, actors and technical managers did with it.

“Because we don’t have a specific prompt, it’s a great way to test your creativity on the spot,” Acosta said. “You’re up at midnight writing this crazy little play, and while you’re not even paying attention, the director and the actors come in to work with [the script] and create something out of it.”

24 hours after the writers began writing the plays, everyone gathered in AfterHours. The lights turned on to reveal the first group, who performed to “Ding-Dong, It’s the Gays.”

The audience, which included all the writers, cheered as the actors delivered the lines they only had 10 hours to memorize and perfect. They laughed at the characters’ awkward interactions.

One attendee, second-year political science major Amos Nasogno, particularly enjoyed the last play, “TLC Presents: Vivian Joins a Cult.”

“It was ridiculously funny and absurd — in a very good way,” Nasogno said.

After the last performance, Hut said that she was proud of everyone for the excellent work they had put in over the past 24 hours.

“This was a blast,” Hut said. “Sebastian [Hymson] and I are so excited to see that 8 to 8 is now a tradition, even though it’s only four semesters old. We hope we created a legacy and that 8 to 8 will continue year after year.”