The future has a reputation for being a big, scary, unknown place – but “See What I Wanna See,” a new musical by Michael John LaChiusa, suggests that the present can be just as big of a mystery.

“See What I Wanna See” is being put on at UCLA by Act III, a theater ensemble started last year by second-year theater student Hunter Bird, on Dec. 5 and 6 in Kerckhoff Grand Salon.

The play is based on three short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and while they’re all placed in different settings and time periods, each deals with a common theme – the question of perspective and its effect on truth. In “R Shomon,” four witnesses to a murder each have a different account of what happened. In “Kesa and Morito,” the audience meets a pair of lovers in feudal Japan, who find that the only way out of the relationship is to kill each other, and in “Gloryday,” a priest who has lost his faith after Sept. 11 finds himself trapped in a lie that becomes the truth when he convinces everyone but himself to believe.

With a different set of characters in each act, “See What I Wanna See” is being performed with a five-person cast. Rachel Lee, a friend of Bird’s who has been part of Act III from its inception, plays a role in all three of the stories.

“When the story is told through one person’s perspective, you’re almost a different character than when it’s being told from your perspective,” Lee said. “So the hardest thing for me is distinguishing all the characters I play.”

For Jordan Aragon, who plays the priest in “Gloryday,” the challenge of “See What You Wanna See” lies in the difference between this and the kind of musicals he’s used to.

“The hardest part in putting this together is that it’s kind of like a puzzle – everyone has to make their own character solid before it fits in perfectly with the larger story,” Aragon said. “Because this isn’t your regular tap dancing, ‘42nd Street’ kind of show, it’s a lot more real, so finding this character who is subtle but also larger than life is an interesting challenge.”

When Bird came to UCLA last year, he already knew he wanted to form a theater group and produce this musical, especially considering the fact that the theater department only puts on one musical a year.

“It’s great that Act III is providing this artistic outlet for students because they’ve got a great program here, and they’re not utilizing the talents of the students training for musical theater,” Aragon said.

While Bird had hoped to put on “See What I Wanna See” last year, he now thinks it is for the best that he waited and found the perfect addition to the cast in first-year theater student Travis Leland.

“What I was really concerned about was all the other people were pre-cast, and the atmosphere is really so much about the group vibe,” Bird said. “But Travis ended up fitting in perfectly. I believe that there was a reason why I didn’t do the show last year, and it was so I could have this cast this year.”

While many of the members of Act III are good friends, it’s not hard for them to stay on task and focus on bringing musical theater to UCLA.

“It’s a very symbiotic work environment,” Lee said. “Hunter is good at taking our advice on things so working with friends hasn’t been a problem.”

Despite being thrown into it somewhat suddenly, Bird said the role of a director has proved to be a good fit for him.

“Last year my director dropped out, so I ended up doing it myself,” Bird said. “I love it because it’s all about melding everyone’s talents and the story line into the director’s vision of this singular piece.”

While “See What I Wanna See” tells three very different stories, what makes it a singular piece are the themes that recur throughout each of them.

“The stories are all tied together in these altered realities,” Aragon said. “They all ask the question, ‘Is there a collective truth?’ Because everyone has their own stories that they claim to be true, so the truth is kind of a mystery.”