They held auditions on the first day of school. They began rehearsals immediately after Thanksgiving break. They practiced scenes every class. And the casts of “Elemeno Pea” and “A Piece of My Heart” performed this past weekend.

“Elemeno Pea” is a satirical comedy rated PG-13. The cast performed on March 13 and 15 in the Alan Harvey Theater.

“The play is about Devon, an employee at a chain restaurant, going to visit her sister Simone on Martha’s Vineyard where she works as a personal assistant to a rich woman named Michaela and the drama that ensues,” stage manager junior Cassie Fox-Mount said.

The cast included seniors Joey Moyer and Cecilia Soghikian, and juniors Landon Campbell, Eliza Lucas and Grace Sanford. They rehearsed every day in class, plus at least once a week outside of school hours, with stage managers Fox-Mount and senior Jo Ireland running rehearsals in the event that director Kim Taylor was unavailable.

“The characters remind me of stereotypical Piedmont a lot,” Lucas said. “And I was excited to have the final product because we’ve put so much work in.”

“A Piece of My Heart” portrays nurses and other women in the Vietnam War. The cast performed the PG-13 rated drama on March 12 and 14.

“The first act is set in Vietnam, and the second is set when we come back and it’s about how we are dealing with PTSD and frustrations with other people who don’t understand,” said junior Yael Gordon, who played a female officer.

The cast, consisting of seniors Elliot Gordon, Becca Havian, Sophie Nadler and Claire Wong, and juniors Yael Gordon, Saam Jalinous, Julia Kelly and Maura Phillips, rehearsed every class as well as on Wednesday and Thursday nights leading up to the play.

Stage managers junior Laurel Rosenbaum and senior Amy Kelleher ran rehearsals when Taylor was working on the other play.

“We did a lot of character work with Kim [Taylor],” Nadler said. “She had us think of three adjectives that are essential to the character, which made it easier to connect with him or her.”

Another way the actors maintained their characters was by taking deep breaths and playing off the other actors.