Samantha Stafford, the lead character in "Erratica: An Academic Farce," has you beaten by a mile. The comedy tells the story of Stafford, an English professor who has been running from her problems for too long. That is until a saucy dead poet, an Indiana Jones-style librarian, a missing 17th century diary and a weepy undergraduate shake up her life.

The world premiere of "Erratica: An Academic Farce" will be presented by the Ball State Department of Theatre and Dance and directed by Elliott Lemberg, a senior majoring in directing and theater education. Shows will be at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 19-21 and 24-26 with 2:30 p.m. matinees Oct. 21-22. All shows will be at the Strother Theatre.

"I wanted to direct this particular play because it is about a common struggle: man (woman) fighting himself (herself)," Lemberg said. "There are moments in all of our lives when we would prefer to run away from a problem or ignore it rather than confront it head-on," he added. "If we, as human beings, are to live full and rewarding lives, we must be able to accept our problems and deal with them, even if they challenge our worldview, even if they scare us."

This will be the premiere of the play written by Reina Hardy, a Chicago playwright and freelance play critic. The presentation is the result of a partnership between the theater and dance department, Algonquin Productions, which specializes in new play productions, and Algonquin's artistic director Tony Sportiello, Lemberg said.

As part of the process, he worked with Hardy to rewrite the script for Ball State's production.

"Working with the playwright has been a rewarding and enlightening experience," he said. "It's not just any day you can call up the playwright and ask them about meanings of scenes and clarifications."

The cast features Kate Ponzio as Samantha Stafford, Tony Howell as deceased Elizabethan poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe, Maeghan Looney as weepy coed Elspeth Lisseth, Alli Miller as the professor's Machiavellian publicist and Ryan Krause as an Indiana Jones-style librarian.

Tickets cost $8 for the general public and $6 for students and are available from the University Theatre Box Office, which is open Monday through Friday and can be reached at (765) 285-8749. For further information, visit www.bsu.edu/theatre.

Other upcoming theater productions include:

• "Thoroughly Modern Millie" – 7:30 p.m., Nov. 9-11, Nov. 15-18; 2:30 p.m., Nov. 12. This singing, dancing and romancing musical brings all the jazz age razzamatazz of Roaring 20s' Manhattan to Ball State's main stage.
• "Rhythm and Soul (A Passion for Latin)," – 7:30 p.m., Dec. 7-9; 2:30 p.m., Dec. 10. Cold winter evenings heat up as Ball State Dance Theatre brings the sultry movement and music of Latin dance to University Theatre.