Fall semester will see two award-winning plays and two art exhibits from the theater and art departments respectively.

The first event is the Biennial Faculty Exhibition for the WSU Department of Visual Art and Design, happening now. The exhibit is being held in the Shaw Gallery, located in the Kimball Arts building. The exhibit features work from almost every full-time and adjunct faculty member. For many students, it will be the first time they get to see some of their professors’ work.

“I feel it’s a valuable opportunity for students to learn more about how what they hear in the classrooms and from the faculty . . . turns up in their own work,” said Mathew Choeberka, chair of the department of visual art and design. Choeberka himself has a painting in the show entitled “No Re-entry.”

The theater department’s season opens on Oct. 8. They will begin with the musical “She Loves Me,” directed by professor Jim Christian.

“She Loves Me” is a Tony Award-winning musical that is set in 1930’s Budapest, Hungary. Amelia and Georg, the two main characters, are coworkers who can never seem to get along. However, they are secretly in love with each other even though they themselves don’t know it. Georg and Amelia are each other’s pen pals who met through a lonely hearts ad.

“It’s very family-friendly,” said Christie Denniston, marketing director for the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts and Humanities. “She Loves Me” will be showing on Oct. 3-4 and 7-11 with a matinee on Saturday Oct. 11.

The next performance will be the dramatic play “Wit,” directed by Tracy Callahan. “Wit” deals with the sensitive condition of having cancer and the human reactions to the illness.

The central character of “Wit” is an English professor that reminisces about her life while suffering through the side effects of cancer treatment. “The show really deals with what it means to be a patient and how we treat each other in that situation,” Denniston said.

“Wit” plays Nov. 7-8 and 11-15 with a matinee on Nov. 15.

Before the show’s premier, the Small Shaw Gallery in the Kimball Arts building will open a show entitled “The Faces of Cancer.” The exhibition, which opens Oct. 17, will feature the faces of local cancer survivors.

“Wit is very heartwarming and touching,” said Vicki Winn, senior house manager at the Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts.

In addition to the regular performances and the exhibition, there will be panel on  Nov. 12,  titled “Empathy – Can We Measure It?” which will have a discussion between a diverse group of people from the healthcare industry.

In December, WSU visual arts students will display their work in the Fall BFA Thesis Exhibition. That exhibition will be open Dec. 5-19 with an opening reception on Dec. 5.

Both art exhibits at the Shaw Gallery are free and open to the public. For tickets to the WSU Theater Department productions, go to weberstatetickets.com.

Note: This story was updated to correct the name of the director of “Wit.”