The NIU School of Theatre and Dance 2022-2023 season features daring new works, familiar favorites and the always crowd-pleasing fall and spring dance concerts.
The season opens Friday, September 23 with Melancholy Play.
Three performance spaces will be utilized in the Stevens Building on the NIU Main Campus, the Black Box Theatre, the O’Connell Theatre and the Sally Stevens Players Theatre.
Ticket prices for mainstage shows (those in the Black Box Theatre and O’Connell Theatre) are $19 for adults, $15 for seniors and $9 for non-NIU students. NIU students can attend any performance free of charge by reserving their ticket in advance.
Ticket prices for studio shows (those in the Sally Stevens Players Theatre) are $7 for adults, seniors and non-NIU students, and NIU students can attend any performance free of charge by reserving their ticket in advance.
Season ticket packages for both series are available.
Fall productions
Melancholy Play
by Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Bethany Mangum-Oles
Tilly’s melancholy is of an exquisite quality. She turns her melancholy into a sexy thing, and every stranger she meets falls in love with her. One day, inexplicably, Tilly becomes happy, and wreaks havoc on the lives of her paramours. Frances, Tilly’s hairdresser, becomes so melancholy that she turns into an almond. It is up to Tilly to get her back.
Black Box Theatre
Sept. 23-25 and Sept. 29-Oct 1
Tickets
Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Kay Martinovich
The School of Theatre and Dance’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing is set in a brothel where the women run the household and the men don’t make all the rules. Conventional gender roles are overturned while sexual metaphors abound in this bawdy tale set in the 18th century – when the military are coming home from a successful battle abroad. And the returning officers are ready to have fun.
A feminist take on a much beloved classic of the Shakespeare canon provides much frivolity and wit, spying and mis-observing, and most important, a most modern critique of romantic love and marriage. Beatrice and Benedick are caught up in a thought-provoking sexual battle of wordplay and sharp barbs. Can they both win?
Sally Stevens Players Theatre
Oct. 7-9 and Oct. 13-15
Tickets
She Kills Monsters
by Qui Nguyen
Directed by Kendra Holton
Identity, grief, and triumph intersect in this zany, fantastical play by Qui Nyugen. Years after losing her family all at once, Agnes discovers a homespun Dungeons and Dragons module while packing up her sister’s room. Reality and imagination blur as she embarks on an adventure through the lens of her sibling’s experience as a queer high schooler in a small town long before nerds were cool. Along the way, roleplaying in her sister’s limitless world of fantasy grants Agnes the ability to determine how to move on with her own very real life.
O’Connell Theatre
Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 27-29
Tickets
God of Carnage
by Yasmina Reza
Directed by Hannah Hammel
What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behavior of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums, and tears before bedtime? ‘Boys will be boys’, but the adults are usually worse – much worse.
Sally Stevens Players Theatre
Nov. 4-6 and Nov. 10-12
Tickets
Carmina Burana – Fall Dance Concert
Directed by Paula Frasz
NIU’s talented dance students take the stage to perform a crowd-pleasing ballet of 13th century songs and poems, including the famous “O Fortuna!”
O’Connell Theatre
Nov. 17-20
Tickets
And coming this spring
Life is a Dream
by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Sally Stevens Players Theatre
Feb. 10-12 and Feb. 16-18
Tickets
In a Word
by Lauren Yee
Sally Stevens Players Theatre
Feb. 24-26 and March 2-4
Tickets
The Children’s Hour
by Lillian Hellman
O’Connell Theatre
March 31-April 2 and April 6-9
Tickets
MFA/BFA Actor Showcase
Corner Theatre
April 12-15
Tickets
Big Love
by Charles Mee
Sally Stevens Players Theatre
April 14-16 and 20-22
Tickets
Spring Dance Concert
O’Connell Theatre
April 27-30
Tickets
Season Ticket packages
O’Connell Theatre Series
Five shows presented in the O’Connell Theatre and Black Box Theatre
Sally Stevens Players Theatre Series
Five shows presented in the Sally Stevens Players Theatre
For more information visit the NIU School of Theatre and Dance website: niu.edu/theatre
