The onion is bloomin’.

Two years ago, The Third Onion, NIU student-run theater program, performed its production of Selling Sex for Cash to two sold-out audiences.

Because of the particularly raunchy nature of the show, it was determined to be the program’s last. Many tears were shed as The Third Onion was chopped.

After taking sabbatical, Robert Schneider, associate professor of Theatre and Dance hopes to revive the program with more adult supervision.

First on the agenda is a reading of Schneider’s new original play, Pyramid Scheme.

The reading will be held tonight at 10 p.m. at the Corner Theatre in the Stevens Building.

“The New Third Onion is organized differently,” wrote Schneider in an e-mail. “It will offer plays of higher quality with more faculty involvement and supervision. I’m very pleased to start the ball rolling with a reading of my own play read by members of our incoming graduate acting class. Pyramid Scheme is brand-new and needs to be read in front of an audience for me to see if it works.”

Four graduate acting students, Brandon Greenhouse, Kaitlin Henderson, Dan O’Reilly, and Jacob Smith will be reading the parts of 23 characters in a comedy set around the Great Pyramid of Khufu. A fifth actor, Amanda Jane Long, will read stage directions.

“The Great Pyramid is one of the most mysterious and controversial structures on the planet, even if you ignore the lunatic fringe that thinks it’s a water pump or a landing platform for UFOs,” Schneider said. “One thing that attracted me to writing scenes for the inside of a pyramid is that nobody can just show up at random. There’s only one entrance. Cell phones won’t work. There’s no neighbor to come by asking to borrow a cup of sugar.”

Although tonight’s show is a reading, Schneider would like to see the play performed elsewhere.

“I certainly hope the play will be performed,” Schneider said. “I’ll be sending it out to theatres and playwriting competitions. One thing in it’s favor is that it only requires four actors to perform. My previous plays have needed as many as nine – which makes them very expensive to produce.”

Pyramid Scheme

“How does it end? Well, forgive me for saying this, but you can’t write about a pyramid without finally coming to the point – the geometry of the subject virtually guarantees it.”

promises attendees an interesting ending, Schneider said.