NIU’s School of Theatre and Dance will present the “The Grapes Of Wrath” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday this and next weekend at the Stevens Building’s O’Connell Theater.

Tickets for Frank Galati’s dramatic interpretation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel will cost $14 for the general public, $8 for senior citizens and $7 for students.

Assistant communication professor Laura Vazquez, former executive producer of NIU’s Donald Trump-esque business reality show the Mac, heads this year’s communication department project.

“;Behind the Curtains; is a daily account on the making of a theater production,” Vazquez said.

Episode one is available online at www.comm.niu.edu/curtain and episode two will be available by the end of the week.

Galati’s Tony Award-winning script, which debuted in Chicago, was chosen by director Chris Markel to showcase the emphasis on realistic theater in this year’s studies.

“This piece served the needs of this group of people,” said Markel, an assistant professor of theater and dance.

Many students may remember mixed, adolescent encounters with Steinbeck’s account of poverty, Oakies, the Joads and human perseverance. Will the invaluable collegiate experience they’ve received bring the struggles of the Joads closer to the heart?

In the “Behind the Curtains” series, the audience connects with the theater more than before. From small victories, like breaking through a chain fence with a van in Cleveland with Travis Shaffer and Shannon Smith, to disappointments, such as Ji Youn Maeng’s loss of trees in the set, the audience is given the opportunity to follow the epic battle that is a theater production.

The play will include a hillbilly band in respective dress, complete with colloquial instruments ranging from ragtime piano to the accordion.

The set seems to be dusted by a perpetual shroud of sawdust, which is contrasted by a crystalline backdrop. The lighting crew manipulates the screen from a brooding dusk to a serene, sapphire blue sky.

“The Grapes of Wrath” serves as a learning experience for all involved. The audience is given online explanations of invisible vandalism, a study on understanding the human existence and some of the most memorable and life-shaping quotes in modern literature.