The stage is set, the dancers are warmed up, the band is tuned, and excitement and intrigue linger in the air. The audience, full of generous patrons and alumni, fill the Mabie Theatre seats and await the program to be showcased — the Dean’s Club Event.

The Dean’s Club gala, celebrating its 10th year, is a collaboration among the theater and dance departments and the School of Music. The private event will take place in the Theatre Building’s Mabie Theatre at 6 p.m. today with a reception following at 7.

“I hope the event will draw attention to the quality of the arts on campus,” said Alan MacVey, the director of the UI Division of Performing Arts.

The evening will begin with speakers MacVey and Linda Maxson, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The dean will address plans for the school as well as the current state of the college. During the event, five Alumni Fellows — N. Peggy Burke, Don L. Davis, Stephen V. Faraone, Martha Ann Selby, and Michael Tanenhaus — will be honored for their contributions to the UI.

Maxson started the Alumni Fellows program 10 years ago.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “[These patrons] are some of our most generous donors.”

After the speeches, UI theater lecturer Carol MacVey will present an eight-minute play she wrote, which she described as being about “a couple who go to a baseball game and realize they see the game differently.” The piece will be performed by UI undergraduates Nicole Reedy and Andy Lisle.

“I wanted to use undergrads since many of the people in the audience were at the UI when they were undergrads,” Carol MacVey said. “I thought they would like to see today’s students performing, as perhaps some of them performed when they were here years ago.”

The festivities will continue with a dance number choreographed by UI dance Associate Professor Charlotte Adams. The work combines improvisation and interaction among four dancers and two musicians, she said.

“The piece has a sense of humor,” Adams said. “It’s about musicians with big instruments taking over the stage space from the dancers.”

Her choreography will be accompanied by Associate Professor Jeffrey Agrell on the French horn and Assistant Professor John Manning on the tuba. The live music will meet with a stirring modern-dance performance by dancers Amy Echols, Analia Alegre-Femenias, Jung Hyun Lee, and Aya Wilson.

“Each night, the musicians improvise differently, so the dancers are always a little surprised,” Adams said.