Mercer Theatre.

After making big news with the announcement of an ArtPlace America grant, Mercer’s Theatre Department is certainly in the spotlight. Taking advantage of the extra attention created by good news, director Scot Mann announced an ambitious schedule for the upcoming 2013-14 season. Though no time table has been set, the new season is certain to be one of the last with productions in the department’s current home, the Back Door Theatre at Willingham Hall.

Mann is enthusiastic about the schedule. He explained, “I think every show this season reflects the magic of theater, and its ability to reach our imaginations on an immediate level that a green-screen movie can’t compete with.”

The season will begin with “Tartuffe” by Molière on Sept. 19-29. The play is a comedy about religious hypocrisy, seduction, and greed, so modern audiences should be able to relate to the 17th-century work by Molière (Pen name for Jean-Baptiste Poquelin). Written originally in French, students will perform an English translation by Richard Wilbur. Great news for those of us who took Latin or Spanish.

The second production of the season will be Vladimir Volkoff’s “Love Kills,” which will run November 14-24. An engaging journey through time and the afterlife, “Love Kills” is a witty play with plenty of plot twists and a dash of the metaphysical. The production will be held as part of the colloquium on the writings of Vladimir Volkoff to be held in celebration of the opening of the Volkoff Archive at the Jack Tarver Library on Mercer’s Macon campus.

In February, the department will present “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” a play by Academy Award winner Tom Stoppard focused on two of Shakespeare’s minor characters from “Hamlet.” According to Mann, “This play satirizes what is possibly the western world’s greatest play so well that it has become a hilarious staple of the western canon on its own.”

The final production of the season will be “Picasso at the Lapin Agile,” arguably Steve Martin’s funniest play. Presented in April, this magical tale brings Elvis back from the dead while demonstrating that art and science are really quite similar. When Picasso and Einstein end up in the same bar, anything is possible. Seriously, aside from banjo, this is some of Steve Martin’s finest work. Go see it.

Mercer Theatre hasn’t moved into the future Tattnall Square Center for the Arts, but the schedule for the 2013-14 season leaves nothing to be desired. Catch a show in the Back Door Theatre next season, because soon, they’ll close that door for good.

Back Door Theatre: Willingham Hall, 1400 Coleman Ave., Macon; 478-301-2974; www2.mercer.edu/NewCLA/CTA/theatre.htm