Open auditions are scheduled Oct. 24, 25 and 26 for the UC Davis Centennial production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!

According to a news release, the cast will number about 30, and the directors are looking for actors who sing, singers who dance, and dancers. Interested people are required to schedule audition times with the Department of Theatre and Dance (see information below).

The Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Department of Music are putting on the play. It is set for presentation five times, May 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10, in Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

The departments have a tradition of including community talent in their larger productions. In 2003, the departments celebrated the Mondavi Center's opening with a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, which featured alumni and several people from the community.

"Now, as the departments celebrate the university's centennial year with a musical perfectly suited for a university with rich agricultural ties, the call is going out again," the news release states.

Oklahoma! features eight principals, including Curly McLain and Laurey Williams, who eventually fall in love with each other. But farmhand Jud Fry also has his sights set on Laurey, which eventually leads to a dramatic knife fight between Jud and Curly.

Meanwhile, the judge's daughter Ado Annie is distracted from her cowboy boyfriend Will Parker by the Persian peddler Ali Hakim. This leads to many complications, all presided over by Aunt Eller, the town's stalwart leader.

In addition to romance, the show is full of signs of the classic west, including barn dances, box socials, farmers, cowboys and gunplay.

Spring quarter Granada Artist-in-Residence Mindy Cooper is handling direction and choreography. She previously served as a theatre and dance Granada artist-in-residence in 2007, when she directed and choreographed the4 department's production of Urinetown.

Her professional career includes directing and choreography for Dracula, the Musical and Wrong Mountain on Broadway, and a touring production of Titanic, as well as various regional premieres and revivals.

Cooper's acting resume includes performances in the ongoing revival of Chicago on Broadway, and the original Broadway version of Titanic, as well as many other Broadway and off-Broadway shows.

The musical director for Oklahoma! is David Moschler, who is completing the final year of his master's program in music with an emphasis in conducting. This past summer Moschler conducted for a fourth season with the College Light Opera Company in Cape Cod, Mass., working on productions of West Side Story, Crazy for You and A Little Night Music.

More information on auditions

Dates and times are as follows:

-- Oct. 24 -- 3-9 p.m. (singers and actors)

-- Oct. 25 -- 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (singers and actors)

-- Oct. 26 -- 10 a.m. (dancers who sing)

-- Oct. 26 -- Noon (callbacks)

For more information or to schedule an audition, call the Department of Theatre and Dance, (530) 752-0888 during regular business hours: 8 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Oklahoma! times and tickets

Performances are scheduled at 8 p.m. May 2, 8 and 9, and 2 p.m. May 3 and 10. Tickets are available through the Mondavi Center box office: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or www.mondaviarts.org.