Nitrous Oxide, directed by seniors Charlotte Pinto and Arnav Travers, is a series of student-run comedy sketches that will run Feb. 6-8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Little Theater that is sure to spark laughter. It is entirely written, directed, and performed by students. 

Sketches will include lighthearted and abstract themes such as cast members performing as furniture pieces, auditioning for an eighth deadly sin, and talking to sentient robot toilets. 

“We’ve got a lot of dancing, we’ve got a lot of fun prop work, and we’ve got a lot of fun cast member physicality,” said junior Will Hartzog, a cast member, adding that he took inspiration from the comedy of Charlie Chaplin’s silent films. 

According to Hartzog, cast members will deliberately occupy the physical space in a way that plays a large role in this year’s show, similar to According to Pinto, the sketchwriting process began in the first month of school and lasted until December. “It was about 10 weeks this year, and then we had two weeks before break dedicated to editing the sketches,” said Pinto. 

Travers added that the sketchwriting process took place in small groups. The process involved “a creative warmup, a game to generate ideas, and then actually sitting down and writing out scripts of those ideas,” said Travers.

After all initial sketches were finalized, both directors picked 30 to make the final cut and set all 10 cast members into acting them out. 

“The acting process is only four weeks, but it’s so much fun because we really get to see the sketches we wrote during rehearsals come to life,” said Pinto.

Travers added, “As directors, our main role during the writing process is helping our cast write, but we also do some scheduling.”

According to Hartzog, some sketches satirize topics that cast members are passionate about and wish to address artistically.

“Oftentimes when you have a stage to kind of get all your ideas out, it can be a good time to make your opinions widely known through comedy,” said Hartzog.