The words “locally grown” probably summon images of farm stands full of leafy greens, squashes, tomatoes and apples of many varieties.

Thanksgiving tables throughout our fortunate Franklin County likely boasted delicious dishes prepared with locally-grown produce.

Greenfield Community College is cooking up something locally grown, as well, though the palate these dishes aim to please hungers for a different kind of nourishment.

This weekend, the GCC Theater Department offers 3 one-act plays written by local playwrights — each directed by a student. Theater Department Chairman Tom Geha came up with the idea of capitalizing on “the amazing talent” of the Pioneer Valley, and on the basis of the submissions he received, decided to make “Locally Grown” a bi-annual event to correspond with his Introduction to Directing class.

In the past, his student-directed productions have conformed to a theme, the last one featuring all one-acts written by Tennessee Williams, for example.

By contrast, these short plays are very different from one another. Geha describes “Boxcar,” written by Bill Wieliczka and directed by Sam Harris-Fried, as “gritty.”

“The Life of a Tertiary Character,” written by Stephen Fruchtman and directed by Ethan Blake, is a meta-exploration of theater.

“Countdown,” written by Richard Ballon and directed by Masahiro Kamada, is about how society moves from stigma to acceptance.

Traditionally, Greenfield Middle School students make a special trip to see the GCC student-directed productions and ask questions of their older peers, but of these three, only “The Life of a Tertiary Character” is appropriate for that age group, some of whom might be experiencing their first live-stage performance.

Blake said one of his aims in bringing this play to life was to make a play about the theater interesting and comprehensible for audiences new to the theater.

Blake has been involved in theater for years, mainly as an actor, and he said that this play immediately struck him as “not standard.” He wants the audience to feel as intrigued by its premise as he was.

Geha allowed his students to read through about 15 of these locally-grown one-acts and choose the ones that spoke to them.

Luckily, they all chose different plays to work on.

Reading “Boxcar” for the first time, Harris-Fried described how clearly she could visualize how everything from the actors to the lighting would look, although, she says many details changed through the process of developing the play with her cast. She leaves much up to her actors, wanting them “to bring themselves to the piece” and describing her evolving directorial style as, “free-flowing and open.”

Kamada was drawn to the historicity of “Countdown,” a play set in 1983 (“… that moment when a young person refers to 1983 as “history”…), drawing on the AIDS epidemic as a backdrop for the action. As someone coming of age in the mid-1980s, and attending GCC, coincidentally, listening to Kamada reminded me of the fear and panic of my youth around AIDS, a disease that is now containable. It’s a good time to be reminded of these fluctuating movements in history.

“I want the audience to see something hopeful,” says Kamada, “something to connect them to a better, happier future.”

All three of the young directors spoke with infectious enthusiasm about their work on these plays. Kamada described the experience as “humbling, yet somehow it helped me know that I really, really love this.”

Blake said, “I’ll give this place credit until the day I die, because it helped me find what I really want to do.”

I was curious what it was about the theater that attracts a generation that grew up looking at various screens.

“It’s organic — a real experience happening within feet of you,” says Blake. “You look into the same box when you watch TV, but when you come to theater, you leave a lot to the actors.”

Maybe this is the gift theater offers a culture that seems to believe that remote control is better than no control at all — it forces people to rely on the human beings in front of them and accept what they do as part of their own experience, even if it makes them uncomfortable.

“Theater is not safe,” Geha explains, watching from a dark seat as Harris-Fried directs her cast under a bank of red lights, “and the world is not safe. But life involves the mind and the body, too, and theater is like life in that way — you have to experience it, you have to live it. It’s very visceral. It couldn’t be more alive.”

It’s easy to see how Geha’s students become so energized by the theater.

Geha himself is the only element here not locally grown, having come to western Massachusetts most recently by way of Los Angeles, Calif., a “there’s-no-business-like-show-business” city if ever there were one.

He lived and worked in theater for 18 years. Visiting this area made him think that if he ever had kids, this is where he’d want to raise them.

Because of his experience in bigger, glitzier places, it’s even more rewarding to hear Geha rhapsodize about the quality of talent and number of thriving theater companies in this area.

Of Harris-Fried, Blake and Kamada, he says, “These are 3 of my strongest students — they’re incredibly dedicated.”

He acknowledges all the difficulties directing presents, and then maintains his confidence in the vision of these three students and their ability to execute their vision.

“We’re doing something new this year,” Geha says. “You can pay once and come all three nights.”

This makes it convenient for parents, friends and adoring fans, no doubt.

When asked what he hopes from the audience, Kamada answers, “We just want them to be there with us.”

This weekend, GCC Theater offers to satisfy our appetite for the local, and it will certainly be a pleasure to provide the locally grown audience.

GCC Theater presents “Locally Grown: A Night of Short Plays,” three one-acts written by local playwrights and performed by GCC students and community members.

Featured plays include “Boxcar,” “Countdown” and “The Life of a Tertiary Character.”

They will be performed today, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Sloan Theater on the main campus.

Tickets, available at the door, are $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors. You can also reserve your seats online at: www.gcc.mass.edu

Jenny Abeles is a writer and educator living in Greenfield. You can search her work online by including her middle name, Terpsichore.