School plays. Sounds pretty cheesy, right? Those two words usually invoke images of over-dramatic, hardly talented kids running around a stage in sequined costumes singing Broadway show tunes in front of gaudy sets.

Or maybe you really dig the idea of school plays. Getting to see your friends acting onstage, in sequined costumes, singing Broadway show tunes…

Either way, if the aforementioned scene is what you usually expect from a school production, then a performance of “Babel’s in Arms” and “Line” will leave you rethinking your bias.

Both plays lack extravagant sets and costumes (although a few sequins might be found here and there in “Babel’s in Arms”), neither one has show tunes, and the actors are amazingly capable.

This might sound boring to some people. No costumes? No props? No scenery? But it makes the plays more interesting and thought provoking than they could be if props and scenery were there to get in the way.

“Line” is the story of five people waiting in line for an unnamed event, each one of them fighting for first place, no matter what the consequence.

With extravagant scenery, props and costumes a person could get wrapped up in the surface story and not realize that the play is actually a metaphor for life. What would you really do to be a “winner?” Sleep with someone else’s wife? Beat up a stranger? “Line” tackles questions like these and entertains at the same time.

“Babel’s in Arms” is about two blue-collar workers who are told to build the tower or Babel.

The two Beavis and Butthead like workers, Cannaphilt (Marc Leon) and Gorph (Giovanni Martinez), question God and his place in the universe. They wonder why they must build a tower “infinitely high and infinitely wide” when God is all around.

The story might sound very religious and thus somewhat boring to many people but it’s kept modern through modern music, dance, speech and acting.

Both plays are minimalist in sets and costumes but make up for it by having thought provoking stories, talented actors and interesting plots.