120 hours in six weeks.

This is the average rehearsal time for a play presented in the McLeod Theater. The staff is now gearing up for the first performances of the season: “Eight” on Sept. 21 and “Ragtime” running Oct. 24 through Oct. 27.

J. Thomas Kidd, assistant professor and theatre department chair, said while a play’s production phase is around six weeks, planning a single production takes months; in fact, the planning phase for a show can begin nearly a year in advance, Kidd said.

“The season is chosen by November, December the year prior to the academic year,” Kidd said. “Spring semester we begin design meetings for the fall semester shows.”

After several months in early stages of production on the season’s first show, producers begin to move ahead with ideas for other shows.

“Hopefully by the end of spring semester we have pretty much a good idea of what the designs are going to be like for the first show and have started talking about the second show,” he said. “When we come back in the fall, those meetings continue. So, show one will move from design meetings to production meetings. Now we’re going to actually build it, now we’re going to actually cast it, now the designs are done.”

This year’s shows are timed to address pertinent issues in the media. “Eight” is a dramatized stage reading about the court case that challenged Proposition Eight in California, Kidd said.

“It’s theatre with a cause,” he said. “We are a part of a national movement to do a stage reading of it, to make awareness of marriage equality.”

“Ragtime” will be staged to coincide with the Peace History Society Conference.

“We delayed our opening show to coordinate with (the Peace History Society Conference) because we’re doing Ragtime, which is about equality and peace, and about understanding and shared experiences,” Kidd said.

Nich Radcliffe, a Masters of Fine Arts student who teaches two theatre courses and has worked in professional theatre for 15 years, sat in on “Ragtime” auditions. Actors are brought in in groups of approximately ten and each person performs individually. The actors leave one at a time as their auditions finish, he said.

“The group sitting off to the side gets smaller and smaller,” Radcliffe said. “When we get through that whole group, another group of ten comes in and we just keep going like that.”

In order to audition, one needs to be prepared, Kidd said.

“Ask questions, do the research, make sure you know what you’re auditioning for,” Kidd said.

Kaitlyn Broyles, a junior from Belleville studying theatre, said when one works on a theatre production, they must be willing to give up personal time to the stage and put in a lot of hard work.

“It’s a long process and you’re giving up a lot of time to the theatre but, you really get to know the people that you’re working with,” Broyles said.

The university also has an organization dedicated to providing a broader range of shows to work with. Bob Holcombe, an associate professor of theater who advised the campus chapter of the United States Institute for Theatre Technology for 12 years, said the department’s mission is to offer theatre students a broad range of shows to work with.

“We can’t just do modern musicals or we just can’t do Shakespeare,” he said. We have to do a little bit of everything so (students) have an experience.”

The theatre department has to provide a range of shows for its students, not only to draw in an audience but to provide students a variety of genres, Holcombe said.

“We want people to know that we’re here, that we’re doing shows and if they like musicals, we do musicals.” Holcombe said “If they like straight plays that get at your heart, we do those too. There’s a little something for everybody.”

The university is trying to make attending performances easier for students. Holcombe said students should check out performances, as their student fees help subsidize their tickets to $6.

“It’s (sort of ) like the rec center,” he said. “You pay for it whether you use it or not.”

This year’s subscription series includes “Ragtime”, Sam Shepard’s “Fool For Love”, “Die Fledermaus”, “Joan’s Laughter”, and “Radio Golf.”

Free performances include “Eight”, New Faces, “Eurydice”, Big Muddy Shorts, and the Big Muddy Play festival.