Interested in packing 2 canonical plays into a single evening? Then check out Eastern Michigan University double-bill of pared-down versions of Henrik Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House,” called “Nora,” and August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” called “Julie.”

The plays were adapted by Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, who had originally planned to direct productions of both, in addition to a stage version of his film “Scenes from a Marriage,” and present them to audiences as a one-day packaged trilogy in 1981 in Munich.

“He realized that that was just too massive, and so he decided to do them in sequence,” said EMU professor Lee Stille, who is directing “Julie.”

But why did Bergman wish to present them together as a piece, anyway?

“I think he’s interested in exploring the awakening process in relationships and, in particular, the female consciousness,” said Stille. “When they wake up, how do they choose to deal with their awakening?”

“Nora,” of course, focuses on a woman who’s desperately trying to keep a secret from her husband in order to maintain appearances. But EMU’s production will, if nothing else, sound quite different from any “Doll’s House” you may have seen before.

“As we were going through these (scripts), we were playing one day with the language, and we started speaking with this deep, Southern, Tennessee Williams dialect,” said Stille. “And (“Nora” director Terry Heck) said, ‘Oh, my God. That’ll work beautifully with this script.’ And so that’s the direction she went.”

Heck noted that the more she thought about Nora, the more the character seemed “not unlike” a Williams heroine; so with some small tweaks — Torvald became Thomas, Nils became Nelson, and a promised trip to Italy became 1950s vacation hot-spot Havana, Cuba — “Nora” made the jump to the 20th century American South.

PREVIEW "Nora" and "Julie" Who: Eastern Michigan University's theater department. What: Ingmar Bergman's truncated adaptations of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" and August Strindberg's "Miss Julie," which he originally wished to stage together with a stage version of his film, "Scenes from a Marriage." Where: Sponberg Theatre, on the EMU campus near the intersection of Best Hall and East Circle Drive in Ypsilanti. When: 7 p.m. February 12, 13, 18, 19 and 20, with one matinee on Sunday, February 14 at 3 p.m. How much: $15 ($12 for students). Information: 734-487-2282 or www.emutix.com.

“There are a lot of different translations (of ‘A Doll’s House’), but many of them are kind of stilted,” said Heck. “When you start speaking (the lines) with a Southern accent, it no longer has that kind of stilted, poetic-in-quotes quality, in that it sounds like people really speaking. And I came in and I hit Lee with that. And he said, ‘Well that’s interesting for you. What am I going to do?’”

What Stille chose to do, for the evening’s second play, “Julie,” is set the action in England, in the early days of World War II. The story concerns the relationship that develops one night between a rebellious count’s daughter, who’s just dumped her fiancée, and her father’s manservant.

“’Julie’ deals with issues of gender roles, but it’s situated in an environment that’s buried, that’s mired in class restrictions,” said Stille. “And I needed to find a system that American audiences would be familiar with, so I settled on England.”

To accommodate the two plays’ very different settings and atmospheres — Stille’s “Julie” is a naturalistic production set in a country manor kitchen, while Heck sets “Nora” in 1950s Savannah and has the whole cast on stage throughout — set designer John Charles has planned a space that can be completely altered during the evening’s 15-20 minute intermission.

So audiences will have the chance to watch 2 classic female theater characters facing difficult personal decisions in one night.

“In the first half of each play, there’s this sense of living with rose-colored glasses, … being unaware of the systems that exist,” said Stille. “And in both cases, they wake up in the second half.”

“(Stille and I) have this idea that, if you’re talking about women being put on a pedestal, that Nora chooses to step off, and Julie falls off, or is pulled down,” said Heck.

Jenn McKee is the entertainment digital journalist for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at jennmckee@annarbor.com or 734-623-2546, and follow her on Twitter @jennmckee.