The School of Theater and Dance will present its BA Showcase tomorrow through Sunday in the Stevens Building’s Corner Theater.

The performance, part of the school’s small venue Studio Series, will include two plays from acclaimed playwright John Guare.

“Something I’ll Tell You Tuesday” depicts an elderly couple who, on their way to the hospital, get sucked into the relationship quarrels of their daughter and her husband.

Gina Carlson, freshman theatre studies major, plays Agnes, the 63-year-old matriarch who also has a secret.

Although she has been performing since she was 11, this will mark Carlson’s first show in college. For her debut role, playing someone four decades her senior was hardly the challenge.

“I get into this role by just thinking about my grandmothers,” she said. “Both of my grandmas are aging beautifully and are still very youthful and hip. I just sort of think of them whenever. I think about the relationships they have with my grandfathers as well.”

“The Loveliest Afternoon of the Year” follows a young man who may or may not be crazy as he shares his absurd anecdotes to a young woman with her own problems.

Guest director Bryan Wakefield said these plays by Guare were selected because of their universal themes of love.

“I think the themes of love and accepting your partner for better or worse are very important,” he said. “They’re two very different stories about relationships in different stages. Really, everything we do comes down to love. You can’t hate a person without loving them.”

Wakefield, an NIU alum, said the experience directing and the student actors have been fantastic so far. In his process as a director, he comes in with an idea for the show, it turns into something else and then usually evolves for the better.

The budget for the show is rumored to be below $100. It’s a minimalist production; no crazy sets, no loud orchestra.

Kellianne Nottelmann, sophomore theatre studies major, is the stage manager for the show. She works as a liaison between Wakefield’s vision as a director and technical reality. Everything you see– from a light’s placement to props– is her responsibility.

Although she’s been a stage manager a few times before, Nottelmann is eagerly anticipating show time.

“Honestly, I can’t wait for opening night, everyone involved in this play has worked so hard on this and it really shows,” she said. “I find myself, still, after all of these rehearsals, laughing at scenes and tearing up at others. The audience won’t be able to escape the theater without feeling something.”