With the new semester underway, the department of theater staff is busy bringing performances to the McLeod and C.H. Moe Theaters this spring.

The three major theatrical performances featured this semester are “Die Fledermaus,” “Joan’s Laughter” and “Radio Golf.”

“Die Fledermaus” is a revenge story operetta first performed in 1874. The title translates to “flying mouse” in literal German, or, essentially, “The Bat.”

Director Tim Fink described it as a light-hearted comedy featuring plenty of waltzes and decorative costumes.

“It’s probably the most…performed operetta that there is out there,” he said. “It’s still very popular. It’s perfect for collegiate voices because it isn’t so dramatic and vocally heavy that it tires them out.”

Fink said the operetta features two fraternity brothers who attend a costume ball – one dressed as a butterfly and the other as a bat. After the party, the intoxicated batboy passes out on a bench outside of a church and is abandoned by his friend. The churchgoers publicly embarrass the batboy the next morning and the play focuses on him plotting revenge against his fraternity brother.

Fink said the production – casted last fall – features a variety of students from different departments.

“The department of theatre is providing sets and costumes and lighting, and the students who are performing are a mixture of opera and music theatre grad students,” he said.

The Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra will perform the score, originally composed by Austrian composer Johann Strauss II. Show dates run from Feb. 28 through March 2.

Next up is “Joan’s Laughter,” written by Jacob Juntunen, who runs the masters and doctorate playwriting programs at the university. Juntunen said the play is about Joan of Arc’s final 90 minutes before execution.

“Joan desperately wants to see heaven but refuses to confess to the priest that her ‘voices’ were demons rather than from God,” Juntunen said. “Without this confession, the priest won’t help her.”

The play is described as a thought-provoking new drama, which will allow Juntunen to express Joan of Arc’s real-life story and his personal admiration for her.

“Joan sounds like fantasy, but is actually history,” he said. “She’s a young woman raised on a farm, who ends up successfully commanding France’s army. Even though she’s uneducated, she speaks with wit and eloquence in her trial against Europe’s most learned men and she wins arguments with them,” he said.

Juntunen said Joan claimed to have heard voices conveying God’s word and, in a way, he lives vicariously through her struggles.

“In modern times, we would likely dismiss her or institutionalize her,” he said. “As someone who is both mentally ill and religious, I wanted to write a play that explored these facets of myself; Joan seemed like a good vehicle for that.”

The play will run at the C. H. Moe Theater and is directed by Megan Smith. Auditions will be held Feb. 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 2 -4 p.m. at the Moe theater to cast two women and three men. Performance dates are April 3 – 6.

Juntunen encourages those auditioning to read the script prior.

“The auditions will be with ‘sides,’ which are portions of the script,” he said. “An actor auditioning for Joan, for instance, will read lines of Joan with a stage manager who’s not auditioning.”

“Radio Golf” is the last play scheduled for the semester.

According to the department of theater’s website, the play is about a black ivy-league lawyer who exposes a corrupt real estate development plan while he is working on a mayoral campaign.

“Radio Golf” won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2007 and promises to be an insightful drama. The play, written by August Wilson in 2005, will be directed by SIU associate professor of theater Segun Ojewuyi.

Auditions for “Radio Golf” will take place in McLeod Theater on Jan. 24 from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and on Jan. 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. Performance dates are April 24-27.

Those interested in auditioning for either “Joan’s Laughter” or “Radio Golf” can contact the theater office at 618-453-5741.

Dylan Frost can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @DFrost90, or 536-3311 ext. 254.