The Department of Theatre and Dance announces its 2011-12 season.

Free Noon Concerts start next week

The Department of Music's fall quarter series of free Noon Concerts is set to begin Sept. 29 with a presentation by Michael Seth Orland on piano.

The concerts are scheduled from 12:05 to 1 p.m. every Thursday through Dec. 1 (except Thanksgiving Day).

Orland's program:

• Bartók — From the Island of Bali, from Mikrokosmos
  
• Benedictus — Gamelan-Goedjin
  
• Gilbert — Javanese Dance
  
• Kamal — Sunda Seascapes
  
• Debussy — Selections from Etudes for Piano, Book I
  
• Seelig — Kébo Giro from Trois Danses Javanaises
  
• Janacek — Sonata for Piano 1.X.1905

Orland's concert is set to take place in the Yocha Dehe Grand Lobby at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. The other concerts in the fall series are scheduled to take place in either the grand lobby or 115 Music Building.

For the rest of the Noon Concert schedule, and all music department events, see the department's online calendar.

Shakespeare still pedaling!

The Davis Shakespeare Ensemble continues its entertaining bike ride through the arboretum — presenting A Midsummer Night's Dream along the way. The production, the first of the ensemble's second season, opened Sept. 15 and is scheduled to run through Oct. 2, in partnership with the Friends of the UC Davis Arboretum.

The play’s lovers, mechanicals and fairies are using all sorts of bicycles in and around the gazebo, and the production incorporates bicycle parts into the props and set decorations, and even musical instruments — all in recognition of Davis’ love affair with bikes.

The lovers, for their wild chase in the woods, are on bikes. The mechanicals, who perform a play within the play, comprise a rag-tag group of bike mechanics. And the fairies, traditionally represented as woodland sprites, are more interested in stealing bike parts and playing music on rusted bike tires.

And look for Titania the fairy queen on her rowing bike — on which she can recline like, well, a queen!

The ensemble described this Midsummer as a fast-paced version with actors in multiple roles — embracing a tradition that dates from Shakespeare’s time. For example, one actor will play Helena (the lover), Moth (the fairy) and Snug (the mechanical).

AT A GLANCE

WHAT: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, presented by the Davis Shakespeare Ensemble

WHEN:

• Friday-Sunday, Sept. 23-25 — 8 p.m.
• Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 29-Oct. 2 — 8 p.m.
• Sunday, Sept. 25 and Oct. 2 — 2 p.m.

WHERE: Gazebo

TICKETS: $15 adults, $10 students, $5 for ages 12 and under (the prices listed here are different than previously announced). You can buy tickets online, or you can reserve them by calling (530) 802-0998.

MORE INFORMATION is available online or by sending an e-mail to davis.shakespeare@gmail.com.

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