Northwestern State University Theatre and Dance will open its 2016-17 season with Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” Oct. 12 – 16 in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium.

The season will feature “All in the Timing” on Nov. 2 – 6 in Theatre West, “Next to Normal” on Feb. 15-19 in Theatre West, “Hedda Gabler” on March 8 – 12 on the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium Stage and “Dance Discovery” on April 6 – 8 in the A.A. Fredericks Auditorium.

“We will have shows that entertain and those who bring up more topical issues,” said Scott Burrell, head of the Theatre Department. “Young Frankenstein is a great show to get the season started for us. It’s a show that is a lot of fun and crazy.”

Tickets to each show are $15, $12 for children and seniors and Northwestern State, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts students are admitted free with a current student I.D. A “Five for Fifty” package allowing patrons to see each show for $10 or buy five tickets for one show for $50 is available. For ticket information, call (318) 357-4218 or (318) 357-4483.

“This year’s class of students has allowed us to raise the stakes,” said Burrell. “We were able to pick shows that allows us to showcase our students. Their maturity and ability gives us the opportunities to perform difficult shows.”

Brooks adapted his film, “Young Frankenstein” into a musical in which Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronkensteen”) inherits a castle in Transylvania containing Igor, Inga and Frau Blucher. After discovering the secret entrance to his grandfather’s laboratory, Frederick decides to carry on the family experiments and creates a monster of his own.

Burrell is the director with musical direction by Dr. Corey Trahan and choreography by Brett Alan Garfinkel and Rebecca Morgan.

The world, according to playwright David Ives is a very odd place, and “All in the Timing” is a virtual stress test of the English language — and of the audience’s capacity for disorientation, uncertainty, randomness and delight. “All in the Timing” is fragmented into short, twisted, convoluted, and highly amusing plays as a cast of six actors play a variety of characters who plunge into the black holes of language where their simplest desires are hilariously thwarted.

Pia Wyatt is the director.

“Next to Normal” with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, takes an unflinching look how one suburban household struggles with crisis and mental illness. It is an emotional powerhouse that addresses grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry and coping with suburban life. Wyatt is the director and Trahan is the musical director.

“Hedda Gabler” was written by Henrik Ibsen and revolves around the beautiful and willful Gabler. She is a very ambitious and controlling woman married to the solid and respectable academic George Tesman. The dreamer Eilert Lovborg, an old flame of Hedda’s, reappears and a series of events leads to tragic results.

Former Artistic Director Dr. Jack Wann will return to NSU to direct “Hedda Gabler.”

“Dance Discovery” will be choreographed by Garfinkel, Kirstin Riehl and Rebecca Morgan and feature NSU dance students in original works.