A doctor experimenting with psychology.

A mother and her daughter having morbid thoughts.

A school shooter haunted by his victims.

These are the characters the El Camino College community witnessed while viewing “An Evening of One Act Plays” which was performed inside the Campus Theatre on Oct. 20, 21 and 22.

A promotional flyer promised works “that explore the darker sides of humanity.” It did not disappoint.

Faculty advisor for the three projects and director Nathan Singh said student-directors were interested in “telling the stories of ordinary people who are pushed to dark and scary places.”

“Theater is a beautiful place to provoke conversations, spark emotion, and have the audience confront these things,” he said.

Directed by Singh, “A Game” was the first of the three plays and inspected the grisliness of human interactions and conflicts via a doctor’s psychology experiment.

Victoria Downing is a fashion major and the actor behind Baker, a subject in the experiment. Downing said the play shows what the human mind is capable of when it is pushed.

She hopes it encourages audiences to reflect after taking in all the emotions.

“Feel all you need to feel but understand that violence is never the answer,” she said.

The second play, “The Wreck on The 5:25,” was directed by student-director Tommy Arciniega.

The play puts a spotlight on morbid thoughts and suburban angst as a mother and daughter await the father’s arrival from his commute home from work.

Having worked on the production for three months, Arciniega said the message this story aims to deliver is to embrace the dark side of life.

“Seeing the mess as part of human nature because it doesn’t always come at opportune times,” he said.

After a brief intermission, the lights dimmed again for “BANG BANG, You’re Dead” directed by returning student-director, Briana Burnside.

The work follows a school-shooter as he is haunted by the memory of his peers whose lives he took. The shooter was portrayed by Mark Picard, a theater major.

Picard said this role and narrative are important because school shootings are complex.

“They’re not just things that happen on TV,” he said. “Actual lives are lost and real people are affected by that loss.”

The audience fell silent as “BANG BANG, You’re Dead” concluded with a backdrop listing recent school shootings in the U.S. with the number of lives lost.

Then they erupted in applause.

Audience member and music major Vincent Edralin said the productions were captivating.

“They were serious but tastefully comedic,” he said. “They all had important messages.”