Starting tonight, three directors for Island Theatre Workshop present a festival of five one-act plays in one program at the Katharine Cornell Theatre over two weekends.

Kevin Ryan looked at both of the plays he is directing a few years ago. In Frederick Stroppel’s Package Deal, starring Bee Bee Horowitz and Abigail Southard, an out-of-work actress and her agent reach a turning point in their relationship over lunch. “It’s a dark comedy with a lot of truth in it,” he said. “I think it appeals to younger as well as mature audiences.”

Mr. Ryan also directs Seeing Beyond with Maya Fantasma, written by D.M. Bocaz-Larson and starring Dan Larkosh, Julie Benoit, Stephanie Burke and Joyce Maxner. Maya is a spiritual medium with a message for Tom from his dead sister, Felicity. Turns out Felicity wants to stir up some trouble with Tom’s wife by telling her things she might not want to know. “This play seemed light and different, full of fun and chaos but with a bit of a twist to it,” Mr. Ryan said.

Loyalties, by Murphy Guyer and directed by Leslie J. Stark, is a drama set in an ambiguous place and time. “It could take place anywhere after a landslide election — America, Europe, even parts of Asia and South America,” Mr. Stark said. As a member of the Tisbury Senior Center’s weekly Peter H. Luce Play Readers’ Society, he performed the play two years ago, found it riveting, and decided he wanted to present it.

Two couples meet for a birthday celebration, brought together because the women are sisters, but the conversation is tense from the start. While an argument about patriotism rages, relationships begin to shatter. The drama features Jill Macy, Katharine Pilcher, Mark Shelton and Mr. Stark. “The concept is pretty mature,” Ms. Pilcher said. “It challenges your idea of what a person should be in a certain time period and occupation.”

A Sunny Morning, a comedy by Serafin and Joaquin Alverez Quintero directed by Lee Fierro, takes place in Barcelona. Two older people, who are used to going to the same park and occupying the same bench at different times, agree to share the bench one day and end up sharing some surprising stories of their lives. Ms. Fierro and Don Lyons are the couple and Katharine Pilcher and Michael Gilman appear as their servants. “I chose this play so Don Lyons and I could act together,” Ms. Fierro said. “We did it before but were much too young for it.”

Ms. Fierro also directs the self-contained prologue to George Bernard Shaw’s adaptation of the Roman legend, Androcles and the Lion. Three’s a crowd when a Greek Christian and his wife confront an injured lion they meet in the jungle, and then confront each other. The play features Kevin Ryan, Gerry Yukevich, and Stephanie Burke. “This play is short and very comedic; it goes well with some of the more contemporary plays,” Ms. Fierro said.

The One-Act Play Festival opens this evening at 7:30 p.m. with additional evening performances on Saturday, March 21, Thursday, March 26, and Friday, March 27 at 7:30 p.m. Matinees are on Sundays, March 22 and 29 at 3 p.m. Admission is $15. Some material contains adult language and situations. For details, call 508-627-3166 or visit their Web site itwmv.org.