The THIRDeYE Theatre Festival is set to open Nov. 5, premiering three plays written, directed, staged and performed by undergraduate students, The annual festival is presented by the Department of Theatre and Dance.

This year's lineup:

-- A Piece of Water, written by Julie Friedrichsen and directed by Daniel A. Guttenberg.

--The Readers, written by Joe Ferreira and directed by Kevin Ganger.

--When Marcelli Met the Dream Maker, written by Carolyn Duncan and directed by Jenna Templeton.

All three will be presented back-to-back at all festival performances: Nov. 5-9.

Jade McCutcheon, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the festival's artistic director, said: "The three original plays in this year's THIRDeYE will not only provide entertainment, but a forum for debate and discussion."

The new works were created in UC Davis playwriting and English courses. "The playwrights were encouraged to explore issues that deeply concern them, whether about the environment, death, sexuality, relationships or love."

Friedrichsen's A Piece of Water, written for McCutcheon's class, explores the roots of emotional crises in miscommunication formed by misunderstanding. A cello, a romance and a photographer are central to this unique piece of theatrical poetry.

As Timea and Freide try to navigate the waters of love in Cold War Hungary, Paula and her partner, Rahim, wend their way through a dusty apartment's history and try to make sense of the present.

The two stories intertwine and diverge, flowing in and out of each other toward a conclusion as inevitable as it is elusive.

A Piece of Water is Friedrichsen's 13th produced play. At age 41, with more than 50 playwright credits, Friedrichsen does not match the typical THIRDeYE student profile. She has run a theater company in Norway and is a veteran theater fundraiser.

Her plays have been performed throughout the Bay Area at such venues as the Clay Theatre in San Francisco.

Friedrichsen received her Bachelor of Arts degree in dramatic art last June, and returned to work with McCutcheon as stage manager for THIRDeYE.

"I'm here because of Jade's creative energy and her process -- I want to be part of that," Friedrichsen said.

Despite considerable experience in many areas of the theater, Friedrichsen had not been a stage manager. "It's a challenge juggling schedules with three shows. I've received 1,700 THIRDeYE e-mails to date."

One of the actors in A Piece of Water, Kristina Stasi, who plays Timea, also wears a second production hat -- as costume designer for The Readers.

Stasi said acting has helped a great deal in her new role as costumer. "A lot of what we do in the preliminary stages of creating a play or character, is the same sort of process in designing," she said "Analyzing the script for bits of information helps form an idea of how these characters may look and dress."

"The Readers is set in contemporary urban U.S.A.," Stasi said. "The director wanted contrast between realistic costumes and surrealistic lighting, so I've kept the costumes simple and dressed the characters based on the emotions I felt while reading the play."

The Readers takes a good look at how hard it is to understand why our partner chooses to believe in certain things and how we try to change each other into someone we think we understand.

The idea for the play germinated one restless night, the playwright said. "I was worrying about the future: what I had majored in, where I would move," said Ferreira, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts last June. "I wished someone could tell me if I was making the right choices, but figured that whoever that was would have to know me better than I did."

When Marcelli Met the Dream Maker is a fantastical, war-time hero's journey about a 15-year-old writer and her family. The young creator of mythical stories lives with her anorexic sister and eccentric mother and struggles with the fear of losing her father.

Helped by dream world creatures and characters, the teen makes life changing discoveries.

The playwright said this is her story. "The pain, the love, the magic are all real parts of me. It was most difficult to write about my own sister's illness."

All THIRDeYE directors, actors, designers, stage managers and crew are undergraduates, many performing their roles or tasks for the first time.

Shayna Carp, who plays Clara in The Readers, said: "THIRDeYE gives undergrads a chance to have a bigger role rather than when competing with grad students. It is a lot less intimidating working with fellow undergrads united on the production team.

"The way our ideas are valued and implemented has taught us more than any classroom ever could."

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: THIRDeYE Theatre Festival, three original productions:

-- A Piece of Water, written by Julie Friedrichsen and directed by Daniel A. Guttenberg

-- The Readers, written by Joe Ferreira and directed by Kevin Ganger

-- When Marcelli Met the Dream Maker, written by Carolyn Duncan and directed by Jenna Templeton

ADVISORY: These productions contain adult language.

WHEN: 8 p.m. Nov. 5-8, and 2 p.m. Nov. 9, Wyatt Pavilion Theatre. All three plays are presented at each performance.

TICKETS: $14 general, $10 students and children. Available through the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or online.

Janice Bisgaard is publicity director for the Department of Theatre and Dance.