Robert Schneider, NIU theater professor and author of “Did I Promise You Moliere?” and “The Flaubert Project,” introduced a new layer of the theater department in the spring of 2005.

“The Third Onion is a medium for students to produce a play they’ve written,” Schneider said. “The Third Onion gives them the performance space, Corner Theatre – in [the] Stevens [Building] – and a place on the calender. Really, the entire responsibility is on the student.”

Three student plays were produced this semester, including “A Dozen Lives,” “A Song for Black Freedom” and “The Lost Gospel of St. Ralph.”

So how does the Third Onion program work and how can one be part of it?

This year there were four performance times to be auctioned, starting at $30 a space.

“We had only three interested production projects,” Schneider said. “But we can accommodate many more than that. However, many open dates there are at Corner Theatre, that’s how many Third Onion Productions there could be.”

While the productions this year were all produced by theater students, the program is open to all NIU students, although it helps to have theater connections.

“You basically rely on an informal network,” said Kaaren Holt, director of “Gospel According to St. Ralph.” “In terms of resources, lights, costumes, crew and cast, everyone in the department is very helpful.”

The program provides nothing in terms of resources, but one can obtain a list of helpful sources or students from any theater staff member.

Even the faculty will give advice when it’s desired, even though the Third Onion’s theme is self-dependence on the part of the student production.

“The Third Onion’s shows are run on the excess energy of the producers,” Schneider said.

“We have to have practices at 10 or 11 at night,” said Victoria Martin, a sophomore theater student. “That’s the only time the theater is open for practice.

Corner Theatre is a bustling theater, and the actual time allotted to the production is one evening to load-in, one tech rehearsal, two performance nights and a break down the final night of the performance.

The times are strict, but opportunity to produce a play without interference or censorship on a legitimate stage in a notable college theater department is uncommon.

“Students charge $1.50 per ticket, and anything over the auctioned price and the productions costs is profit,” Schneider said. “So far, everyone’s made money.”

More than a means to make money, the Third Onion is a means of selling one’s artistry and training its creators, something few schools and related experiences do.

The Third Onion Manifesto boils down to one line – “The Third Onion rents you a space and puts you on a calender – the rest is up to you.”