More Arts: The Madness and Music Festival continues through this weekend, and the Jazz Bands perform their first concert of the 2010-11 academic year, on Nov. 17.

At the Mondavi Center: Focus on Film

The rumors are true: Studio 301 Productions, the only student-run theatre company at UC Davis, is presenting the farce Rumors, by Neil Simon.

Also true: The Department of Theatre and Dance is presenting the gender-bending Elizabethan comedy Gallathea, written in the 16th century and updated at UC Davis with a contemporary set, original music, outrageous costumes — and even video and text messaging.

Rumors is set to open Nov. 4 and Gallathea a week later.

Studio 301: Rumors

In Rumors, several affluent couples gather for a dinner party — only to discover that the servants are missing and so is the hostess. And the host, the deputy mayor of New York City, has shot himself through one of his earlobes.

Hilarity ensues as the couples struggle to retain composure and make sure no possible bad media could come of this.

Undergraduates Ulysses Morazan and Jazz Trice are co-directing.

“Ulysses and I were really attracted to the idea of Rumors because of our target audience,” Trice said. “In all honesty, everyone our age has had to deal with rumors in some way: rumors being spread about them, defending themselves, listening to rumors about others, helping to spread them around.

“What piqued our interest was the investment that people put into rumors, especially the lengths they'll go to protect themselves and their dignity.

“Most people live by the motto, ‘Who cares what people think or say about me,’ but we have a feeling there's always something in the back of their minds, wondering what's being said.”

Studio 301 has been rehearsing Rumors for four weeks, a much shorter process that what Morazan said he has experienced in the past.

“So we definitely had to be extremely organized from the beginning,” he said. “We sat down months before the casting process and hammered down everything from the audition date to the last day of performance.

“From the very first day, everyone involved has been working hard, 20 to 25 hours a week to make Rumors something magical.”

And everyone — actors and crew — is doing it solely for the love of theatre. In other words: No class credit, no compensation.

Studio 301's Alison Stevenson contributed to this report.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Rumors, by Neil Simon and co-directed by Ulysses Morazan and Jazz Trice

WHEN:

• Nov. 3 (preview), Nov. 4-6 and Nov. 10-13 — 8 p.m.
• Nov. 7 and 14 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Wyatt Pavilion Theatre

TICKETS are available the Freeborn Hall box office, in person or by telephone, (530) 752-1915. $10 for students, $12 general admission, or $5 for the preview performance only.

MORE INFORMATION is available by e-mail: Studio301Productions@gmail.com.

Theatre and Dance: Gallathea

The hunt is everything in Gallathea, where girls dressed as men fall wildly in love and the gods furiously battle like schoolyard children. The play is centered in a Lincolnshire village, which is forced by Neptune to sacrifice its most beautiful virgin every five years.

Hilarity ensues when Tyterus and Melebus — both believing their daughters to be the fairest virgin — send the girls into the forest for protection disguised as men.

Fortune-seeking brothers and the divine intervention of Diana, Venus and Cupid complicate the play, but the plot focuses on the two daughters, Gallathea and Phillida, and the suppleness of gender.

Peter Lichtenfels, the professor who is directing the John Lyly play, said: “Early modern ideas about men, women and the flexibility of gender are both remarkably similar and completely different to ours today.

“The similarities help us to think about gender and sexuality through the differences of a society and culture from over 400 years ago — with thought-provoking and challenging perspectives on what many people today take for granted.”

Lichtenfels noted that the play feels like “vaudeville and (almost) stand-up comedy,” and said he thinks audiences will enjoy the bawdy and surprisingly contemporary humor.

A news release states: “With its playful gender-bending, fans of Shakespeare’s As You Like It are sure to enjoy Lyly’s play and Lichtenfels’ fun and uproarious update of this classic. It rocks the world of traditional theatre while exploring sex, identity, lust, love, infidelity, deception and denial with burlesque flair. It is sophisticated and coarse at the same time.”

Read the news release.

Janice Bisgaard, publicity manager for the Department of Theatre and Dance, conributed to this report.

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Gallathea, written by John Lyly and directed by Peter Lichtenfels, professor of theatre and dance

WHEN:

• Nov. 11-13 and 18-20 — 8 p.m.
• Nov. 14 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Main Theatre

TICKETS are available through the Mondavi Center box office: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or mondaviarts.org. General admission $17-$19. Students, children and seniors $12-$14.

DISCOUNT: $5 tickets are available for school and youth groups of 10 or more, at the teacher or group leader’s request. To make arrangements, call the Department of Theatre and Dance, (530) 752 -5863.