MORE THEATRE
ON CAMPUS

• Julius Caesar — Studio 301 Productions, the only student-run theatre company at UC Davis, presents this Shakespeare play, directed by Michael Lutheran.

Typical of Studio 301 productions, Julius Caesar will be presented in an uncoventional space: the courttyard between the School of Education and Sproul Hall. (You might remember Studio 301's Macbeth, presented in the sunken interior courtyard of the Social Sciences and Humanities Building.)

"The director's vision and his use of this outdoor space will make Julius Caesar seen as never seen before," Studio 301's Alison Stevenson said. "Professional fight choreography is sure to bring the action, while the drama and suspense laden in the script itself, along with these hard-working actors, is sure to have audiences captivated."

• Wednesday-Saturday, May 11-14 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 15 — 7 p.m.
• Thursday-Saturday, May 19-21 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 22 — 7 p.m.

WHERE: School of Education courtyard, between the School of Education and Sproul Hall (click here for map showing Sproul Hall)

TICKETS: $10 general admission, $6 students. Tickets are available at the Freeborn Hall box office, telephone (530) 752-1915.

• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) — Presented by the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble, which describes the play as "an irreverent, fast-paced romp through the Bard’s 37 plays." Directed by Gia Battista.

"This wild lampoon of the Bard's comedies, histories and tragedies includes a lightning-speed version of Hamlet both forward AND backward," according to a news release. "We guarantee you will be breathless with laughter!"

• Thursday-Sunday, May 12-15 and 19-22 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 12 and 19 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Arboretum gazebo

TICKETS: $12 adults, $8 students, $5 children 12 and under. Reservations: davis.shakespeare@gmail.com.

MORE INFORMATION: Online or by e-mail, davis.shakespeare@gmail.com.

“Traditionally, theatre tells you what to think,” says John Zibell, a Master of Fine Arts candidate in directing. Not so with The Moby-Dick Variations. “The audience has to bring thoughts of their own.”

The Moby-Dick Variations, a production of the Department of Theatre and Dance, opened May 5 and continues through May 15. Four days after that, the department takes to the stage with The Who's Tommy.

The Moby-Dick Variations — “Audience members may come to the theatre expecting to be told the story of Ishmael, Ahab, Queequeg and others,” said Claire Maria Chambers, a cast member and performance studies doctoral candidate. “Instead, they will be given impressions of and experiences of loss and love, strife and friendship, the vastness of the ocean and the idea of death.

“John’s vision is post-dramatic. It is concerned with atmosphere and experience instead of meaning.”

Zibell conceived of the work and directs it, and the production company devised it.

There is no traditional stage or spectator seating. In fact, audience members are invited to wander among the performers.

Zibell’s objective is twofold: to enable the audience to experience the multiplicity of perspectives that Herman Melville delivers in his novel Moby-Dick, and to allow the audience to experience additional perspectives — their own and the performers’ — as seen through contemporary lenses.

Zibell’s inspiration came from the multicultural Moby-Dick, and the director follows Melville’s narrative and plot, albeit in nonlinear fashion. Unlike the novel, The Moby-Dick Variations is set in the present and investigates the disappearance of the human animal from the natural landscape.

• Today-Saturday, May 6-7 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 8 — 2 p.m.
• Thursday-Saturday, May 12-14 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 15 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

TICKETS: $17 general admission; $12 students, children and seniors. Advance tickets are available online (click on “Purchase Tickets Now!”), or in person or by telephone at the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

RATING: PG-13 (a motion picture rating that states: “Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13").

Read the complete news release.

The Who's Tommy — The hit musical that brought Broadway into the rock era — and won five Tony Awards in the process. Based on The Who's 1969 double album rock opera Tommy. The title character is deaf, dumb and blind, and rises to fame as a pinball wizard. The album and show produced such classic rock songs as "I'm Free," "See Me, Feel Me," and, of course, "Pinball Wizard." Directed by Granada Artist-in-Residence Mindy Cooper, who in two earlier Granada stints directed Urinetown: The Musical and Oklahoma! She also directed last year's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

• Thursday-Saturday, May 19-21 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 22 — 2 p.m.
• Thursday-Saturday, May 26-28 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 29 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Main Theatre, Wright Hall

TICKETS: $18-$22 general admission, $15-$20 students, children and seniors. Advance tickets are available online (click on “Purchase Tickets Now!”), or in person or by telephone at the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

RATING: PG-13 (a motion picture rating that states: “Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13").