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The final season of the UNK Theatre Program is ongoing as the department prepares for its fall productions. With only four more shows this year, the cast and crew are already hard at work.

With the announcement of budget cuts last spring, the theatre program is no longer taking new students. Darin Himmerich, the theatre program director, said they tried to stick with a common theme for each of the productions.

“‘A Fox on the Fairway” ends with a positive view,” Himmerich said. “Even “Deathtrap” is very twisty but it ends with a positive view. I think that will be a good note to end on.”

Rehearsals for the first show this season, “A Fox on the Fairway,” have begun and guest director Ally Fricke is back on campus for her last production.

“‘A Fox on the Fairway’ is a farce, which is a fast-paced comedy,” Fricke said. “It’s really funny and it has a lot of love triangles.”

The story takes place on a golf course with six characters and a lot of shenanigans. The two rival country clubs in the show have a tournament where they compete.

“My favorite part of the show is the relationships between the characters,” Fricke said. “They are really complicated which makes the show funnier and keeps the audience guessing. There is also a lot of funny fight choreography which I really enjoy.”

Fricke graduated from UNK last May, but when the program needed another director, she was happy to step in.

Senior Lainey Schmeits will be portraying Louise in the upcoming production, but her involvement doesn’t stop there. She will also be directing the program’s second show this fall, “Deathtrap,” which was the longest-running thriller on Broadway in history.

“‘Deathtrap’ is a murder mystery kind of thriller,” Schmeits said. “It kind of breaks the fourth wall where it talks about the theatre as the audience is watching the show.”

This five-person cast has two acts with a script in the show called “Deathtrap.” This theme appears throughout the show. The murders that transpire are sure to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.

“There is a little bit of romance, but there is a lot of fighting, murder and death,” Schmeits said. “It’s serious in that way, but it’s also, I think, quite hilarious. I am really excited to see my cast on stage. They are all fantastic.”

While this academic year marks the last productions for the program, the cast and crew are still eager to perform a wide variety of shows.

“I think our season this year, including the shows in the spring, is very unique and it kind of encapsulates everything that theatre is,” Schmeits said. “We have drama, thrillers and comedy. I think we are very lucky to be able to do all kinds of different shows.”

Fricke said the arts are important to many students on this campus which makes it hard to see the program go. 

“It prepares anybody for any job they could ever have, whether that’s an engineer, public speaking, to not be nervous in front of a crowd, to help people and to be happy,” Fricke said. “The arts make a lot of people happy and sometimes for some kids that’s the only place they fit in a school, and I think that’s important for people to have a place to be.”

“A Fox on the Fairway” will run from Oct. 9-13 in the Miriam Drake Theatre and “Deathtrap” will run Nov. 20-24 in the Studio Theater. Both shows are free to UNK students who present their UNK ID.