In a special look at what goes on in the lives of MLC students, MLC Forum will be presenting “MLC: The Real World” starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 10. There will also be a performance at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 11 and a 2 p.m. show on Dec. 12, all in the MLC auditorium. Tickets are $5 for all attendees and will be sold at the door only.

The show features the one-act plays, “Teachers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” by Bradley Hayward and “I Don’t Mind That You’re Ugly” by Bobby Keniston.

MLC Forum Faculty Advisor Erin Laabs said that since 2018, Forum does a set of one-act plays each year in December. The Forum board, made up of four students elected by their peers, are tasked with selecting Forum’s production season each year.

“Specifically, the board selected these two plays because they liked the light-hearted, comedic view on teaching and dating — two topics that come up frequently in their lives here at MLC,” Laabs said of this December’s plays.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Noah Uhlenbrauck, front-right, directs Nicole Schumann, left, and Aric Reim, backright, during a Nov. 18 rehearsal for “I Don’t Mind That You’re Ugly.”

Both plays will run about a half hour and there will be a brief intermission in the middle.

In “Teachers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” five high school teachers find themselves at the end of their rope.

The problem? It’s still the first day of school.

Each teacher has his or her own pains and issues to tackle and it’s only a matter of time before one of them snaps. The students, trying to navigate this bumpy road, soon realize that it may have been their own behavior pushing their teachers to the edge and will need to make things right before this faculty completely loses its faculties.

This play will be directed by Jacob Schwark, a first time director.

Staff photo by Travis Rosenau From left to right: Alison Foxen, Nicole Schumann and Aric Reim rehearse a scene from “I Don’t Mind That You’re Ugly” on Nov. 18 at the MLC auditorium.

“This is the first show I’ve ever directed,” he said. “We have student directors for most of the shows, and I loved working with them as an actor. I wanted to take my turn at the head of a production.”

Schwark said that there were a few unique things about “Teachers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” that interested him.

“What really interested me about this show are the unconventional staging and storytelling it uses,” Schwark. “It’s those unusual touches that I love about one-act plays.”

The other play, “I Don’t Mind that You’re Ugly,” is about a man named Clyde that anxiously waits at “The Only Fancy Restaurant in Town” for his beautiful girlfriend, Kira. There, he is waiting to propose.

His only issue is that he’s a very average-looking guy. When Kira arrives, looking stunning, everyone in the restaurant wants to gawk at Clyde’s bride-to-be, throwing his night into a whirlwind.

And when Kira accidentally says, “I don’t mind that you’re ugly,” to Clyde, the night really takes off in an unexpected direction. Will Clyde marry the girl of his dreams, or will this wacky restaurant ruin his relationship?

This play will be directed by Noah Uhlenbrauck, who is also directing his first play.

“This is my first show directing; however, I have been a stage manager for a couple of shows and have worked with many directors,” he said. “As I’ve done some stage managing, however, I learned that I kind of picked up on what my previous directors had taught me and had my own ideas and visions for shows, which made me want to have the opportunity to actually take a shot to work with everyone to put on a production.”

Uhlenbrauck said that “I Don’t Mind That You’re Ugly” appealed to him for its very “rom-com” situation, one of his favorite genres of movies.

“I like that it explores and navigates relationships,” Uhlenbrauck said. “The fact that I am able to combine my past theatre experience and use it to direct a show I’m passionate about also interested me in this position.”

Both directors had that challenge of getting and fitting everything together in three weeks of rehearsal, which also had Thanksgiving in the middle of things.

“I love working with the actors and wish we had so much more time to flesh everything out,” Schwark said. “But my goal is that everyone can get into their character and unlock them, since the plays are all about the characters.”

Uhlenbrauck added that getting everyone’s ideas into production has been another challenge.

“For me, the biggest challenge has been coordinating with everyone and trying to fit everyone’s good ideas into the production,” Uhlenbrauck said. “I have the opportunity to work with so many talented people, and it is challenging to work together to incorporate everything to the best of our ability to put on a fantastic production.”

MLC Professor Paul Grubbs, also the One-Act Faculty Advisor, said these two comedies are relatable.

“This set of plays are fast-paced comedies with broad, wacky characters that give actors a chance to swing for the fences,” he said. “The frustrations we’ve all felt about the worlds of education and romance become bigger and funnier on stage.