As multicolored disco lights spin around the stage, and the first few lyrics of Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” blast from the speakers, the audience can’t help but cheer in excitement, proving to everyone that the classics still rock.

With a retelling of ancient Greek tragedy and the reimagination of a classical Italian playwright’s work, the Barnard theatre fall 2022 season brings the historical back on stage, rewriting it for the current moment.

A “killer” elementary school science fair, a grandma left to die in a sandbox, and three wannabe frontiersmen incapable of leaving their apartments were featured in the three plays in the Columbia University Players spring 2022 One-Act Festival.

As the house and stage lights dim, the entire theater is enveloped in darkness. The band has ceased playing, and even the audience has grown quiet. For a few moments, there is nothing but shadows and silence, as if someone has cast a spell over the theater, freezing it in time and space.