Note: this was my award-winning piece at the 2010 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association conference in Kerrville, TX.

If you think your parents or in-laws are overbearing, try having a nagging sock puppet constantly bossing you around.

At first glance, the premise of Dionosian Award-winning student and playwright Zachary Daniel Salcich’s two-act play “Tick Tock” seems ridiculous: the perpetually nervous nerd Tommy Byebye is forced to marry Ellen Fairweather, his girlfriend of one week, by her overbearing sock puppet mother.

In the meantime, Byebye has to deal with his “The Big Leibowsky”-inspired slacker roommate, eccentric twin friends, and a priest who is probably an alien.

However, Salcich’s and director Jessica Roberts’ execution astounds with its humor, depth, and relevance. The play does a remarkable job of delving deep into the idea that we shouldn’t obsess over time, creating an experience that is simultaneously thoughtful and hilarious.

Salcich’s wordplay sticks out the most in the presentation. Between clever puns, recurring themes, and entire monologues full of double meanings, the play captures the audience’s attention and refuses to let go.

Fortunately, these subtleties of the script were difficult, if not impossible, to miss. The cast’s lines were delivered almost flawlessly, adding pauses and emphasis as well as different stage placement around jokes and meaningful phrases so the audience could pick up on them.

Facial expressions and movement quirks added to the humor. Each character felt like a very real person.

The red hat-wearing sock puppet mother is even incredibly expressive. The actors took turns wearing it, allowing the mother to use their hand to talk and even jerk them around the stage wherever the mother wanted them to go. Roberts, who voiced the puppet while directing, gave it an excellent voice and almost always lined up with the movement of the puppet’s mouth.

Only David Theis, who played slacker roommate William “Moochie” Graywood, fell flat on his lines, as they felt a bit forced. His mannerisms and movement, however, more than made up for the small issue.

The character “Tick Tock,” whose name appears only in the program, delivered monologues about time and obsessive behavior before acts, moving across a round, marked timeline at the front of the stage as he did so, emphasizing the time aspect even more and giving the audience a sort of “thesis” to think about as the play began.

Each act did its job as an episode in the characters’ lives, both making a separate point about how we deal with the passage of time while still flowing to create a complete story.

The first, in which Byebye gets married to Ellen and has to deal with a “purpose” the alien priest has given him, does an excellent job discussing moving into the future while setting up the second act at the same time.

The second, which is mostly comprised of a monologue by Ellen, discusses letting go of the past while tying up the themes and questions presented in the first act.

Nothing in this second act is ever directly explained to the audience, but Salcich’s poignant meanings are still easy to pick up on.

The believable set design added a lot to the play’s relevant, sympathetic nature. The complete back wall gives a sense of completeness to the apartment, while simple additions such as family portraits, a Post-it Note covered whiteboard, and food wrappers strewn about the living room add a strong touch of realism.

Non-realistic elements, such as a wooden lamp, were used as visual jokes in the play. The lamp got knocked over twice, allowing the audience to feel at ease about the obviously fake props.

“Tick Tock” is a must-see play. Every element mixes into an experience that left me thinking about the meanings long after I left the theater.

“Tick Tock” is still playing at the Studio Theater in the Alice Hanzen Building at Schreiner University March 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m.