MAN OF LA MANCHA: UC Davis' production of Man of La Mancha wraps up with shows at 8 p.m. March 9 and 10, and 2 p.m. March 11, plus a PG-13 show at 1 p.m. March 9, all in Main Theatre. The production features life-size puppets, each with a corresponding actor, and with the puppeteers visible on stage.

Man of La Mancha, a Tony Award-winning musical, includes adult themes and situations revolving around Spanish novelist Don Miguel de Cervantes and his most famous character, the idealistic Don Quixote.

The play follows Cervantes as he is put in prison to await trial by the Spanish Inquisition. His fellow prisoners hold a mock trial to determine whether Cervantes' possessions, a trunk of costumes and theater props, should be distributed among themselves.

As a defense, Cervantes presents a play about Quixote, assigning each prisoner a character along with an appropriate costume from the trunk.

In the UC Davis production, Cervantes gives spectacular puppets to the prisoners. "Puppets are a great way to portray the idealized world of Don Quixote that Cervantes aspires to," said director Art Grueneberger, artistic director of the Sacramento-based Puppet Art Theater Co.

TRANSFORMATION AT MU: The annual UC Davis Juried Student Art Show is set to open at 11 a.m. March 13 in The Gallery on the second floor of the Memorial Union. A reception is scheduled at 6 p.m. the same day to honor the artists whose works were chosen for display, and to announce the winners of best of show and certificates of excellence.

Thirty-five artists entered 68 pieces in various media. The show in-cludes works in textile, ink, oil, charcoal, sculpture and wood, plus digital images and performance pieces, all falling under the theme Transformation, referring to the animation of the inanimate, the molding of everyday simplicity into something complex, challenging normal design, and depictions that delve deep into the concepts of transformation.

The art show is scheduled to run through Picnic Day, April 14.

DOWNES WELCOMES YOUTHS: The Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts announced that seven young performers will join Mondavi Center artist-in-residence Lara Downes for her next concert.

The guests -- a singer, and pianists and violinists -- are the winners of the second annual Young Artists Competition. The family concert is set to begin at 2 p.m. March 18 in the center's Studio Theatre.

The program lists Downes, a pianist, playing a selection from Robert Schumann's Kinderszenen, Op. 15, plus performances by the competition winners.

The competition was open to California pianists and instrumentalists ages 8 to 17, divided into junior and senior divisions, and vocalists under 18. More than 65 people submitted audio recordings, and 38 of the musicians and vocalists were selected to perform for judges in December and January.

'DAZZLING' FLUTIST TO PLAY: Hungarian flutist Dóra Seres is up next in the Mondavi Center's Debut Series. Accompanied by Steven Beck on piano, Seres is scheduled to present a recital of works by Mozart, Bartók, Poulenc and more at 8 p.m. March 24 and 2 p.m. March 25 in the Studio Theatre.

The Washington Post hailed Seres' debut at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as "entrancing, dazzling, a stunning display of skill."