It’s the three-year-and-10-month anniversary of “Menopause the Musical,” written and produced by NIU alumna Jeanie Linders.

The musical about four women going through “the change,” is set to parody ’60s and ’70s pop songs, such as “Help Me, Rhonda” rewritten as “Thank You, Doctor,” about typical mood-enhancing drugs.

The Feb. 5 opening in Melbourne, Australia, will mark the play’s 10th country as 19 troupes currently perform the production.

Linders is a member of NIU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts advisory board.

All proceeds of the Feb. 19 performance at Chicago’s Apollo Theater will go toward the Deans Fund for Arts Initiatives.

“Our college has been driven over the past decade by a focus on being a major provider of artistic services,” said Harold Kafer, dean of the college of visual and performing arts.

Linders also created Women4Women. This organization serves as an information clearing house, grant endowment firm and financial aid service for women over 40.

She has bought work from artists who are local to a performing area and put them on display before and after the shows. The exhibitions, “40×40,” feature work only by women over 40 and are typically self-portraits.

The musical wasn’t always met with support. Linders asked a friend to produce the show in New York and was turned down because the play “would not work.”

She produced it herself in a perfume shop that was converted into a 76-seat theater.

“Producing your own play is like opening up your own business. The risks are extraordinary, but you have a vision no one else has,” said Deborah Robertson, associate professor of NIU’s theater and dance department.

While overseas, “Menopause” was met with parody laws.

Because of the “Fair Use” law in American entertainment, artists parodying songs are protected against legal action from the artists being parodied. While versions of the law exist in other countries, there is no guarantee preventing lawsuits for copyright infringement.

Performers must obtain a licenses or throw caution to the wind. Linders chose to re-write eight songs in order to legally perform the musical in Australia.