HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech Theatre Department featured “An Evening of One Acts” in late February. Each of the plays were written by women from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance.

The plays performed were chosen “based on their authenticity, mission and originality in either structure of dialogue,” according to the playbill. Each play touched on contemporary topics related to feminism and cultural development, such as the Black Lives Matter and growing #metoo movements.

Show B presented two of the plays. Diana Pierangeli’s “Shape of You” showcased the Venus di Milo (played by Alyssa Helminen) at Paris’ Louvre museum and her struggle with observers’ perceptions of her as simply beautiful. An art student studying Venus, Alex (Angie Gecosky), similarly struggles with her lack of “strength” due to unwelcome advances from an aggressive male professor.

Venus and Alex lean on one another and learn they both have the ability to win their respective battles. Venus realizes she represents more than beauty to those who idolize her while Alex gains the strength to report her professor and complete her thesis. Helminen’s performance as Venus was noteworthy for her ability to be both quiet and mesmerizing as a literal statue and gracefully outspoken as Alex’s guardian.

The second play was Shannon Harper’s “I Hope…” which portrays the lives of two black female college students.

Tyleah (Arlethia Bell) and Karena (Meghan Tidwell) live together in an off-campus apartment and, through their conversations and interactions, the audience learns of their struggles as black women in our primarily white-representative society. The women explain their disdain for those that are surprised by their intelligence, those that have expectations of them because of their race, and irritating habits they experience like having their hair touched.

While the messages conveyed in the performance are important and necessary topics not spoken of often enough in our society, the play struggled to tell a consistent story. One unique quality of the play was the addition of a piece of Black art to the women’s apartment wall between almost every scene.

Michigan Tech’s theatre program actively shows its support for marginalized groups by selecting this fine group of plays to perform.