EUGENE–Season tickets are now on sale for the four award-winning plays, representing both contemporary theater and international classics, that comprise the 2000-2001 Robinson Theatre Season at University Theatre on the University of Oregon campus.

The "millennial" season literally spans a thousand years from Sophocles’ "Electra" to Tony Kushner’s 1993 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches." The time span embraces Oliver Goldsmith’s 18th-century classic comedy, "She Stoops to Conquer," and Irish playwright Brian Friel’s "Dancing at Lughnasa."

All University Theatre performances are at 8 p.m. for evening shows, with one 2 p.m. Sunday matinee during each production. Free parking is available nearby in university lots at East 11th Avenue and Kincaid Street.

The hilarious comedy-improvisation troupe, Absolute Improv, now five years old, will kick things off before the start of the regular season with two "back to school" performances. Absolute Improv will perform at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 29 and 30, in Robinson Theatre at Villard Hall, 1009 Old Campus Lane.

The regular Robinson season will begin with Goldsmith’s "She Stoops to Conquer." Performances are set for 8 p.m. on Nov. 3—4, 9—12 and 17—18.

This is the play that "reinvented comedy" in 1773 by using gentle wit and hysterical circumstances to critique the snobbery of the upper class. However, when country ways finally overcome city manners, love, of course, triumphs over all.

The second production is "Dancing at Lughnasa," Friel’s award-winning play, offering performances Jan. 26—27, Feb. 1—4 and 9—10. It tells the story of the Mundy sisters living a loving and desperate existence in Donegal in 1936.

"... This play does exactly what theatre was born to do," states The New York Times, "carrying both its characters and the audience aloft on those waves of distant music and ecstatic release that, in defiance of all language and logic, let us dance and dream just before night must fall."

In April, the Greek classic "Electra" by Sophocles will be presented as the third production of the 2000-2001 season. Performance dates are April 13—14, 19—22 and 27—28.

Long hailed as one of the greatest works of Western literature, many of the themes and ideas in this story project a very contemporary attitude and relevance. Sophocles’ powerful play relates a cycle of violent actions motivated by passion, pride, revenge and self-righteousness, examining the difference between justice and justification.

The final play of the 2000-2001 Robinson Season will be "Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches." Performances are set May 25—26, May 31—June 3 and June 3—8.

Kushner’s award-winning play, a panorama of late 20th-century American politics, faith and identity, has been celebrated by international audiences. Set in 1985, at the beginning of Ronald Reagan’s second term, "Millennium Approaches" engages provocative and enduring national themes with great wit, theatricality and a truly uplifting sense of our possible future.

Season tickets are available in two formats. Regular season tickets get patrons a substantial discount and specific seats assigned to them for the entire series. The Freedom Pack option maintains the discount but to avoid conflicts and exchange hassles, allows patrons to select later in the season the night they want to attend.

Prices for each four-play season ticket are $32 for the general public; $25 for senior citizens, UO faculty and staff, and non-UO students; and $15 for UO students.

Tickets are available now on campus at the Ticket Office in the Erb Memorial Union, 1222 E. 13th Ave., (541) 346-4363. New this year, tickets will be sold only on days of performances at the University Theatre Box Office in Robinson Theatre at Villard Hall, 346-4191.

For more information, browse <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~theatre/> or call the University Theatre Development Office, (541) 346-4190. 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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