Those looking for local entertainment this year have to look no further than the University of Alabama’s Theater and Dance program.

The program follows the academic year. The 2010-2011 theatrical seasons will feature 12 productions, according to Christopher Montpetit, director of the University’s theater management program.

Montpetit said this season’s offerings focused on the classics of theater.

“We decided to go back to some of the classic playwrights of the theater industry,” Montpetit said.

Graduate students chose to direct four productions, Montpetit said. The four graduate productions include “Screwtape,” “The Bourgeois Gentleman,” “Flora, The Red Menace” and “The Baby Dance.” Directing a production is included in their curriculum, Montpetit said.

Karen Baker, a second year student in the three-year graduate program, chose “Screwtape” as her theatrical project. The play is based on the C.S. Lewis book “The Screwtape Letters.”

“I really liked the story because it deals with serious topics, obviously. We’re talking … about your eternal soul, but it has some comic elements because it sort of shows the demons, the fiends, as really out for themselves,” Baker said.

“They could probably really take over the human race if it weren’t for the fact that they were really botching the job,” Baker said. “In this particular story, they keep messing it up.”

“Screwtape” is the first offering of the year by the Theater and Dance program. The Allen Bales Theater is hosting the production.

Among the program’s offerings is “Moby-Dick,” a stage adaptation written by Steve Burch, a professor at UA.

“I’m proud to say this, we’re actually going to be doing a world premiere of the new play Moby-Dick,” said Montpetit.

“Big River,” a musical adaptation of Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn,” closes out the season.

“We usually try to follow up and end our season with a musical, which everyone likes,” Montpetit said.

Whether you come to see a philosophical production on demons, a musical about Huckleberry Finn or any of the ten productions between, Montpetit said everyone is welcome.

“These are open productions,” Montpetit said. “They’re open to anyone on campus and in the community.”

“As the gentleman in charge of the box office, I try and encourage groups to attend as well as classrooms,” Montpetit said. “We try to get information out to other professors on campus to let them know what we’re doing.”

The program gives students valuable professional experience, according to Montpetit.

“Even though there’s no course credit attached to being a part of a production, it gives them skills as part of their training to become a performer,” Montpetit said. “This gives them the chance to see what it’s like to put on a production. It’s not all rosy like some people think. A lot of work goes into it.”

The first production of the season, “Screwtape,” premieres September 20 in the Allen Bales Theater in Rowand-Johnson Hall on campus.