Anyone looking for something slightly off the beaten path from ISU Theatre productions should take a “Detour.”The Detour theater group will be at the M-Shop tonight at 7:30 for the one-time performance titled “Love and Other Frivolous Things,” an evening composed of a variety of one-act plays.Detour Productions got its start last semester through the collaboration of two ISU performing arts students. Senior Danielle Strait and junior Ryan Walrod together wanted to produce a night of one-act plays. “Most student theater at ISU is done by ISU Theatre,” Strait said. “We wanted to create another opportunity.”The two applied for a FOCUS grant, received it and started working. “FOCUS grants are part of the Lectures Program,” Strait said. “They fund student projects that foster creativity at ISU. It allows for creative opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be available.” Strait said that the group’s name, Detour, came from making a path rather than taking the main one. “The most interesting has been the material that we’ve had to work with,” said Ryan Swartz, junior in English. “It’s typically the kind of material that you don’t get to do on an academic level.”Swartz will be performing in a David Mamet piece called “All Men are Whores.”Swartz said he has enjoyed working on the one-act because it has given him a lot of individual work and rehearsal as an actor.”There’s not a lot of interaction with the other actors,” Swartz said. “We’re trying to find that one trough-line that will hold the piece together. It is kind of disjointed … working alone, which has been somewhat easier. You don’t have to find a time to rehearse together.”Strait said that the most exciting things for her, as an actor, co-director and producer for the group, have been the collaboration and the actual conception of the theatrical pieces. “It’s amazing to sit down with two other people and talk about what someone else’s words mean,” Strait said. “It’s interpretation and creation at its best. A playwright sets down words on a page, and those are our boundaries … but with those boundaries we have incredible freedom.”Strait said that their goal as actors was “to make the most of [the playwrights’] words.” “Simply working with the actors, thinking, talking and making it happen has been wonderful,” Strait said. The group has faced some challenges with the project, including scheduling conflicts. “Anyone involved in the performing arts knows how much is always going on,” Strait said. “Most of our actors, including myself and Ryan [Walrod], have been tied to other performing events this semester. This is nothing new to us.””It’s been a challenge and a challenge is always good,” Swartz said.Producing this show has been a valuable learning experience, Strait said. “There were so many ins and outs that I knew about in theater, but had never experienced,” Strait said. “It’s been difficult but we’re going to be ready.” Swartz said that it is important for audience members not to expect the ordinary. “It is a little off the path of what ISU Theatre usually does,” Swartz said. “It’s just different. It is hard to describe.””There are some downright hilarious one-acts and there are some are serious pieces that are going to encompass a wide range of emotions,” Swartz added. “Everyone will walk away having learned something.”The show is free and begins at 7:30 p.m.