ONE-ACT FESTIVAL : The Learning Curve : Annual collection of plays at Ventura College runs the gamut of grades.

Ventura College’s performing arts department is presenting its annual Student One-Act Play Festival; perhaps their best chance of the year to show off what they’ve taught--and learned.

Two of the four plays were written by their (student) directors; the others came from outside sources. Commendably, origin doesn’t necessarily determine quality.

The first, longest, and least successful play is a brave choice by director Laura Swain. Megan Terry’s “The Gloaming, Oh My Darling” is a surrealistic piece of hog wallow that takes place in a nursing home. The characters include two elderly women--the patrician Mrs. Tweed (Amy Garrett) and “weak old tub” Mrs. Watermellon (Angel Jones)--a prim, sadistic nurse (now there’s a cliched character), a selection of vapid, disinterested relatives, and a body covered by a sheet.

How confusing is this play? The catalogue of its distributor, Samuel French, describes the corpse as that of Mrs. Tweed’s recently departed husband; the Ventura College press release says he’s simply “a man from another ward.” (The fact that the man’s last name is Birdsong, rather than Tweed, supports the press release).

Before the play’s over, the corpse--whoever he is--comes to life. His reminiscences about life in the American West may prompt the audience to wonder why the women speak with what appear to be Irish accents. Why, for that matter, do they rock, ferociously enough to power a small engine, in chairs a good 20 feet apart, when they could simply move the chairs closer and eliminate having to yell at one another? And why does the offstage voice of “Spanky” Reynoso occasionally burst forth with a brief verse of “In the Gloaming”?

Garrett, Jones and Christine Leaver are very fine as Tweed, Watermellon and the nurse, with the other actors (including Jeffrey H. Britt as Mr. Birdsong) turning in performances of variable quality.

Richard Greenberg’s wry comedy “The Author’s Voice” is far more interesting and involving, directed by Doreen Dekkers. The “Voice” in question belongs to aspiring author Todd, who certainly looks like a literary type, sort of an Ivy League Barton Fink.

His writing, it seems, is considerably more textured and imaginative than his everyday speech, a situation that is perplexing to his sexually predatory editor. It’s as if, she jokes, he kept someone in his closet, spinning out reams of brilliant fiction.

The truth involves a twist on “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and at least one more surprise than might be expected. Looking exactly right for the role of the would-be writer, Doug Leoncavello turns a bit of stiffness in his line readings to his own advantage during a hilarious seduction sequence. Also appearing in “The Author’s Voice” are Jill Waggoner as the lascivious editor (who acts more like a publicist, but never mind), and Rob Sanchez as . . . well, never mind, that, either, but cheers to the uncredited makeup designer.

The two original plays are both worth seeing, though “Leather Jacket,” written and directed by Brenda Kenworthy, may be a bit more appealing. Gregory Small plays Alex, the less responsible of a pair of UCLA roommates. His absurd scheme to meet the girl with whom he is obsessed distresses his roommate (Spanky Reynoso), who is forced to participate.

The whole affair has a sitcomish air to it, but the play is tightly written, features uniformly appealing characters, and shows a perception of human nature. Amber Schultz and Cherry Clemenson are featured as a pair of Alex’s platonic friends.

“Peace is Hell,” which concludes the two-hour, 40-minute evening, is an allegory in which various stereotypical participants in the wartime economy--an aerospace worker, a rocket engineer, a Russian general, a spy, and so on--find themselves together in the unemployment office. By the end of the play, they’re all working again and have discovered new (and rather depressing) truths about themselves and one another.

Being stereotypes, they’re all rather broadly played, though Michael Certo is especially notable as raving leftist Juan Tanamera (such is the level of much of this skit’s humor), and Ray L. Wilson adds a refreshing dimension to the computer-nerd archetype.

* WHERE AND WHEN

The Ventura College Student One-Act Play Festival concludes this weekend at the College’s Main Stage and adjoining Circus Theaters, on Loma Vista Road just east of Day Road in Ventura. Show times are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $7 general admission, and $5 for students, staff and seniors. Physically impaired please note: the audience is shuttled from one theater to the other between plays. For further information, call 654-6459.