EUGENE–University Theatre will conclude its 50th-anniversary season in Robinson Theatre with a two-part production of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" by Charles Dickens during the last two weeks of May and the first week of June.

Part I of the critically acclaimed play, adapted for the stage by David Edgar, will open on Thursday, May 18, at Robinson Theatre in Villard Hall, 1109 Old Campus Lane at the University of Oregon, with Part II following on Friday, May 19. Free parking is available nearby in the UO lot at East 11th Avenue and Kincaid Street.

Because of the special nature of this production, University Theatre has adjusted its normal curtain times to 7 p.m. for all evening performances and 1 p.m. for the matinees. The two parts of the award-winning play will alternate throughout the three-week run.

Part I will be performed on Thursday evenings, May 18, 25 and June 1; at Saturday matinees, May 20, 27, June 3; and at a Sunday matinee on May 21. Part II will be presented on Friday and Saturday evenings, May 19—20, 26—27 and June 2—3, with a Sunday matinee on May 28.

Tickets for "Nicholas Nickleby," and all University Theatre events, are available now in Eugene at the Box Office at the Hult Center, One Eugene Centre, (541) 682-5000; and on campus at the Ticket Office in the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave., 346-4363, and at the Box Office in Robinson Theatre at Villard Hall, 346-4191.

Tickets are $10 for the general public; $8 for senior citizens, UO faculty and staff, and non-UO students; and $5 for UO students, with a $1 discount for Thursday performances. Patrons will need separate tickets for each part of the production.

As a benefit for the university’s Community Internship Program, tickets for the Sunday matinee on May 21–at $10 for adults and $5 for students–are available through that organization, 346-4351. In addition, group rates are available for all performances.

"The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" was selected from among several ideas regarding what type of project should be undertaken to commemorate 50 years of spirited and inspired production work in the Robinson Theatre, according to Jack Watson, head of the UO Department of Theater Arts and part of the production’s directing triumvirate.

"This rich story, with so many twists and odd characters, so many shifts from comedy to melodrama to social drama to farce, more than fit the University Theatre’s quest for one project that would involve everyone in the department and which would serve as a cap to the year and a fitting tribute to 50 years of theater tradition," he says.

One of the great events of the modern theater, the Royal Shakespeare Company production of "Nicholas Nickleby" enjoyed phenomenal success in both London and New York. A New York Post critic proclaimed: "Let me put it simply and plainly. The Royal Shakespeare Company in ‘The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby’ is one of the great theatrical experiences of our time."

After winning the Tony Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for 1981, the New York Daily News called it "… big, sweeping theatre of a kind you are unlikely to encounter more than once in a lifetime." Because of the demands on a theater’s resources, however, the production is not often mounted and seen. This University Theatre production provides a unique opportunity to see what Variety called "…the playgoing experience of a lifetime."

The challenge of "Nicholas Nickleby" relates to the richness and detail of the story.

University Theatre’s cast of 32 actors is not any larger than many of the musicals and some of the plays presented there over the years. However, in most other productions, each of those actors takes on one character and maintains that portrayal throughout the show. In "Nicholas Nickleby," six of the actors have only one character while the other 26 present four to six characters each. In all, 150 named characters appear on stage along with the general crowds of people in London and elsewhere.

Because of the simple unit staging, designed by Chris Wooten, a theater arts master’s degree candidate from Columbia, Mo., and the direct, narrative-storytelling construction of the plot, the play moves smoothly through its many scenes and related story lines.

The triumvirate of directors–Watson; John Schmor, an assistant professor theater arts; and Jon Cole, a theater arts doctoral degree candidate–have fashioned a montage that recaptures the sights and sounds of Victorian England, and the touching, funny, exhilarating saga of the virtuous young Nicholas as he meets and masters the challenges of poverty and corruption. In the end, the play is a soaring affirmation of humanity’s essential goodness.

Others working on the production include theater department faculty members and resident designers Alexandra Bonds as costume designer and Janet Rose as the technical director and lighting designer.

Two production stage managers–Carine Boekee, a senior theater arts major from Sassenheim, Holland, and Ekaterina Slepicka, a senior theater arts major from Hillsboro, Ill.–handle the logistics of fitting 32 actors into 150-plus characters and keeping track of who is on stage as whom in each scene.

Jeffrey Radcliffe, a graduate teaching fellow in music composition and theory from Eugene, is composing original music that will be played live on stage by students from the UO School of Music.

Among the principal cast members are Luke Hamilton, a senior theater arts major, Eugene, as Nicholas Nickleby and Scott Vogel, a senior theater arts and pre-psychology major, Grants Pass, as Smike, the wretch he befriends and saves.

Nicholas’ family includes Torey Mulvany, a senior theater arts major, Ontario, as his mother, Yasmin Ravard, a freshman theater arts major, Lake Oswego, as his sister Kate, and Rowan Morrison, a junior theater arts major, Seattle, Wash., as his uncle Ralph. Thomas Mele, a senior theater arts major, Des Moines, Iowa, plays Ralph’s man, Noggs.

Additional significant characters are played by Daniele Ozymandias, a senior theater arts major, Ashland; David Royer, a senior theater arts major, Central Point; Kathryn Reese, a junior theater arts major, Cottage Grove; Sam Super, a junior theater arts major, Oregon City; Jacob Hutchison, a senior theater arts major (Honors College), Portland; Michael Govier, a senior theater arts major, Redding, Calif.; Deb Greer, a doctoral degree candidate in theater arts, Riverside, Calif.; Kristine Michelle Brooks, a senior theater arts major, Sacramento, Calif.; and Quinn Mattfeld, a sophomore theater arts major, Camas, Wash.

Others rounding out the cast include Amanda Dumler, a sophomore pre-journalism major, and Heather Meyers, a senior theater arts major, both of Beaverton; Wayne C. Bund, a freshman pre-journalism major, Boring; Andrew Beck and Sarah Linder, both freshman theater arts majors of Corvallis; Tracie Sheppard, a senior theater arts major, Eugene; Curtis Williams, a sophomore undeclared major, Gresham; Rachel Sebastian, a sophomore theater arts major, Irrigon; Windy Borman, a junior electronic media journalism major, McMinnville; Greg Thorson, a senior theater arts major, Medford; Christopher Howcroft, a sophomore theater arts major, Oregon City; and Jessica Grindell, a senior theater arts major, and Ian Hanley, a sophomore theater arts major, both of Portland.

Also members of the cast are Colleen Wroblewski, a senior theater arts major, Danville, Calif.; Jackie Jacobus, a senior theater arts major, Walnut Creek, Calif.; Darlene Espinoza Dadras, a junior theater arts and Romance languages major, Woodbridge, Va.; and Alex Rossiter, a sophomore English major, London, England.

For more information, browse http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~theatre. A taped message about University Theatre productions and activities also is available 24 hours a day by calling GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2287.

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