With a new year comes new faces, and that is the case with the ISU Theater Department . sort of. Jane Cox, a long-time professor of theater at Iowa State, isn’t a new face by any means, but her face is new to the position of director of theater. Cox has been named interim director of theater after former director, Gregg Henry, took a job in Washington D.C. as the director for Kennedy Center and the American College Theater Festival. Though Cox is excited about her new position, she stresses that Henry will be missed. “Gregg worked very hard with the American College Theater Festival and that was a big involvement with him,” Cox says. “And there probably isn’t anyone around for whom it will be as important as it was to him. We’ll probably miss that for one thing, but we’ll also miss Gregg, it was good to have Gregg around.” As far as Cox holding this position, there is no telling if or when the word interim will be taken off the title. “The way it was left was that I was going to try it, see if I like it, see if other people liked it. Then we’ll see,” Cox says. Cox is happy to take on her new responsibilities, but hopes the job won’t take away from the things she was involved in before she took the job. “What I was doing earlier was mainly teaching and projects I was interested in doing in terms of theater,” Cox explains. “So I’m still going to keep doing all those things, I hope. Still I’m layering on in some other things, and there’s some paperwork and straightening things out and keeping things moving.” Some things that have happened since Cox took the job include choosing the schedule of productions for the year. She chairs a committee which makes the choices. One thing Cox has been heavily involved with is trying to appeal the schedule to a larger audience, including people of all different ages. “We sent out a season brochure, we’re really going to try to get a lot of the community interested in coming back to our shows,” Cox says. “I think we have a lot of student support, not that we don’t want more, we always want more student support.” To help gain a wider audience, Cox also paid close attention to the pieces that were chosen. “What we tried to do was pick some productions that were popular, and we did that (with Shakespeare’s `Twelfth Night’),” Cox explains. “We have opportunities for student playwrights to get their work seen and heard, and `Noises Off’ is a very funny comedy about theater people, I think it should play well too.” Cox says that by having such a wide variety of productions, it will give audience members a range of theater experiences. “I’m excited about it, I think the upcoming season is really going to give lots of different kinds of emotional responses as well as intellectual ones,” Cox says. “I hope that lots of people will come and get involved as audience members and really have an opportunity to share everything theater can offer.” Also, as another way to get a buzz going about this year’s theater schedule, Cox and company are planning parties after opening nights of “Mass Appeal” on Friday, August 25 and “The Fantasticks” on Friday, September 22. “We’re going to try to have little perks for people, everyone in the audience who is there that night,” Cox says. Along with “Mass Appeal,” “The Fantasticks, ” “Noises Off” and “Twelfth Night,” other productions will include “The African Company Presents Richard III,” “I’ve Got Something to Say Too” (a showcase of student-written work), and the Stars Over Veishea production of “Oklahoma!” A subscription package is being offered and is on sale through October 1. It provides subscribers with season tickets at bargain prices, the best available seats and ticket priority. Package prices are $23.50 for students and $58 for adults. Those interested in purchasing an ISU Theater subscription package can call 294-3347.