For one night only, four student playwrights will bring their original works to life in the Mercer Island High School (MIHS) Performing Arts Center.

MIHS Drama Department’s Esme Dixon (“Meant to Be”), Andie Donisch (“Stranded”), Katie McGuire (“Second Language”) and Alon Ten-Ami (“Itsy-Bitsy”) will lead the annual Playwriting Project at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17 with their world premiere 10-minute plays. MIHS Drama 2 students will perform the plays that will feature four guest directors from Youth Theatre Northwest at the free event.

The playwrights are working under the guidance of Mike Lion, a guest artist from Youth Theatre Northwest. Starting the week of Sept. 30, the playwrights will have completed their plays and their remaining classmates will start rehearsing the plays with the directors.

Following are the four plays’ intriguing synopses:

* Four people stranded in an elevator realize that technology is no use, so they must build relationships the old-fashioned way — “Stranded”

* When a child who doesn’t speak English moves to a new school, they meet a classmate that only speaks English. Despite the language barrier, the two kids create an unlikely friendship — “Second Language”

* Two childhood best friends reconnect the summer after their senior year and revisit their past emotional turmoil — “Meant to Be”

* Two siblings have a freakishly hilarious encounter with an unlikely stranger — “Itsy-Bitsy”