NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance 2005-06 season is eclectic to say the least.

Ranging from 19th century Russian war epics to 1980s communist Polish Cinderella adaptations to post-Sept. 11 American dinner parties, the unlikely plethora of productions are intentionally designed to satisfy the diverse needs of NIU’s student body.

The selection process does not begin with careful choosing. It begins early in the first semester of the year before the pending season, with the proposal of plays from any theater participant.

“A committee then meets and reviews the plays,” said Alexander Gelman, director of the School of Theater and Dance. “Reading all of the selections is the longest part in the whole process.”

The next year’s schedule is usually completed at the end of the first semester by the official Production Committee, consisting of four to eight members.

“Each area of the theater department is represented: performance, technology, history and the student body,” said Chris Markle, assistant professor of the School of Theatre and Dance.

Each season the production committee changes in order to accommodate changing interests year to year.

As the plays are read by the committee, specific needs are taken into consideration.

“Plays like last year’s ‘Grapes of Wrath’ were selected in accordance with the demands of first-year masters students,” said Markle. “Their first year is focused on realism, particularly American.”

The Moliere plays performed last year focused on acting in verse.

This year, Richard Poole, assistant professor of the School of Theater and Dance, requested a series of Chekhov one-act plays to be performed in conjunction with his junior theater class focusing on detailed rehearsals.

While the plays must meet specific criteria, the amount of scripts proposed each year allow the Production Committee to make the choices it wants without a great deal of compromise.

For instance, plays like “Alice,” to be performed in early September, are picked with an emphasis on logic.

NIU’s SummerNITE Production Company, which traveled to Moscow this summer, performed “Alice” in particular because the set was not demanding. Markle has performed the production in the past, so it didn’t have to be conceived from scratch – it limited the unaccountable variables common in traveling theater.

“Even with the inevitable compromises,” Gelman said, “There’s nothing in the season that I’m not happy to present.”