Martin Andrucki, Charles A. Dana Professor of Theater, directs the Bates College theater department production of Alcestis, Euripides’ tragedy about a king, doomed to die, who offers up his wife in his place. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, March 6, 7, 13 and 14, and at 2 p.m. Sundays, March 8 and 15, in Gannett Theater, Pettigrew Hall, 305 College St.

Admission is $6 general admission and $3 for Bates faculty and staff, senior citizens and non-Bates students. For more information, please call 207-786-6161.

First produced in Athens in 438 B.C., Alcestis is the oldest surviving work by the Greek playwright Euripides. The play follows the death of Alcestis, sacrificed by her husband and brought back from the dead by Hercules.

The Bates cast performs a shortened version of the translation-adaptation of the play created by Ted Hughes in 1999. A famous poet, as well as children’s writer and operatic librettist, Hughes’ translations of ancient drama also included The Oresteia of Aeschylus and Seneca’s Oedipus.

Alcestis is widely recognized as a tragicomedy, addressing serious issues but ending happily. “It is a play that spans a gamut of feelings, from tragic loss to farce to romance,” says Andrucki. “It’s a play about young people grappling with death, a subject keenly relevant to college students.”

Alcestis’ death creates disharmony in the court of her husband, Admetos. When his friend Hercules arrives and no one wants to tell him of the tragedy, drunken revelry and a fight with Death ensue. Eventually, Hercules brings Alcestis back from the dead, resulting in a story both heartwrenching and thrilling.

Euripides is thought to have written at least 95 plays, though only 18 survive. Known primarily for his portrayals of strong female leads and intelligent lower classes, Euripides used his plays to satirize heroes of Greek mythology, including, in this case, Hercules.

“The play is full of compelling moments,” Andrucki says. “Death’s violent encounters with Apollo and Hercules; the heartbreaking farewell scene between Admetos and Alcestis, the wife who has chosen to die for her husband; and the miraculous conclusion, when Death is temporarily vanquished.”

“People will find the production excitingly modern in a variety of ways, but we respect the classical vision of Euripides,” he continues. “We have a chorus, gods and heroes who are engaged in a universal conflict: the struggle to find meaning in the face of death.”

Often viewed as playwright John Guare’s most popular and important work, The House of Blue Leaves is the major fall theater production of the Bates College theater department. Directed by Professor of Theater Paul Kuritz, “Blue Leaves” will be performed at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 5-6 and 12-13, and at 2 p.m. on Sundays, Nov. 7 and 14.

Admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for Bates faculty and staff, senior citizens and non-Bates students. For reservations and information, please call the box office at 207-786-6161.

Mixing black comedy with existential drama, The House of Blue Leaves premiered off-Broadway in February 1971. It’s built around the historic visit to New York City by Pope Paul VI on October 4, 1965, and examines the human condition and the falsities of the American Dream through the lens of a middle-class New York family.

The plot deals with the pains and hardships of protagonist Artie as he juggles his often-crazy home life and his desire to make it big as a songwriter. In the Bates production, Artie will be played by Kevin Weiler, a senior from Anchorage, Alaska. Alexandra Hughes, a sophomore from Brookline, Mass., portrays his wife, Bananas. Brandt Miller, a first-year student from Westfield, N.J., plays their son Ronnie, and Emmy Spencer, a first-year from Canaan, Maine, is Bunny, Artie’s mistress.

The play, says Kuritz, “forces the questions, ‘Why is this family as it is?’ ‘Why is my family the way it is?’ ”

He says, “Fundamental to any actor playing a role is the question, ‘What does my character want and what is he willing to do to get it?’ That question animates the characters in ‘The House of Blue Leaves,’ and returns to each of us throughout our lives.”

Blue Leaves” has received critical acclaim for its examination of the American family and the American way of life. It has been awarded a variety of prizes including four Tony Awards, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award and the New York Drama Critics Award for Best American Play.

Regarded by many as the best-known play in the English language, William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” is the major fall production of the Bates College theater department.

Directed by Martin Andrucki, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Theater at Bates, six performances of this compelling, complex tragedy will be held in the college’s Schaeffer Theatre, College Street: at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 7, 8, 14 and 15, and at 2 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 9 and 16. Admission is $6 for the general public and $3 for Bates faculty and staff, senior citizens and non-Bates students.

For reservations and information, please call the box office at 207-786-6161.

Why “Hamlet,” and why now? “I’ve been meaning to direct it for years,” says Andrucki, “and this fall seemed like an apt time, given the reopening of Schaeffer Theatre following extensive renovations.” The auditorium’s refitting, which ran into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, included new lighting equipment, increased room on stage and improved handicapped access.

“It’s also been four years since we’ve done Shakespeare,” Andrucki adds, pointing out that a four-year Bard cycle ensures that every class gets a chance to be involved with a Shakespeare play.

First performed in 1603, “Hamlet, The Prince of Denmark” is a story of loss, treachery and revenge. The plot’s mainspring is Hamlet’s discovery that his uncle has murdered Hamlet’s father and married his mother. But the psychological and narrative complexities that Shakespeare layers onto this simple plot give the tragedy a depth and interpretive potential that keep it in the foreground of dramatic literature even 400 years after its introduction.

Among the leading players are Nathaniel Holt, a senior from New Brunswick, N.J., as the title character; Kevin Weiler, a junior from Anchorage, Alaska, as Hamlet’s uncle, Claudius; Brian Pfohl, an assistant in instruction in the psychology department, as Polonius, father of Laertes and Ophelia; David Erickson, a first-year student from Carlisle, Mass., as Laertes; Jocelyn Davies, a junior from New York City, as Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude; and Katie Nolan, a sophomore from Gladstone, N.J., as Ophelia.

The lighting design is by Michael Reidy, a member of the Bates faculty well-known for his work in Maine theater. Scenic and costume designs are by Ellen Seeling, assistant professor of theater. Her set, notes Andrucki, “emphasizes the many layers of deception and disguise in the text — plenty of places to play hide-and-seek.”