As the school year comes to a close, the Palo Alto High School Theatre Department has been continuing to rehearse for One Acts and prepare for both the class and senior showcases.

Each of the seven One Acts typically presents a short scene that is produced, directed, designed and acted out by students. These performances will run from May 5 to May 7 and students from all grades will be performing.

“It’s super fun every year and we get to see a bunch of people who are not regularly involved in theatre on stage, plus it is almost entirely student-run,” junior Kathy Yan said.

Following One Acts, the senior and class showcases will finish off the year in preparation to open the new theater next school year.

At the end of the year, each theatre class works together on a few scenes which can give an accurate representation of what they have learned in class.

The final performance is open to the public, and the performers’ friends, families and peers are all encouraged to show their support. On the other hand, senior showcase is exclusively performed by seniors in the class.

“Senior showcase doubles as sort of a send-off for the seniors, and there  is a lot of extra farewell stuff that goes on, like awards, gifts and speeches,” Yan said.

These events are being met with a lot of excitement from students as they may be the first performances in Paly’s brand new theatre, which has been under construction for the past four years.

The new class showcase will be on May 16, with the senior showcase on May 20.

“The program says goodbye to our seniors that we love so much,” sophomore and stage technician Peter King  said. “Underclassman and juniors present the seniors and highlight experiences they had with them.”

As the seniors say goodbye to their high school theatre careers, these last performances are sure to not disappoint.