ORONO – You don’t have to be nuts to enjoy the latest theatrical offering from the University of Maine’s School of Performing Arts – but it helps. And if you are, you’ll have some company.

UMaine’s theatre department opens its season with a production of “Melancholy Play” by Sarah Ruhl. Directed by Rosalie Purvis, this gleefully strange farce runs through October 22 at Hauck Auditorium on the University of Maine campus in Orono. For more information, you can visit the SPA website here.

The play is an exploration of the complexities of emotion, of how the way we feel can impact not just ourselves, but the people around us. It’s a look at the delicacy of interpersonal dynamics and the manner in which those dynamics can shift and evolve as the ties that bind us grow tighter or looser … or just plain weirder.

It is also wildly funny, packed with absurdities that only accentuate the paean to emotionality that rests at its core. All of this brought to vivid, surreal life by a passionate young cast whose talent is second only to their fearlessness.

ORONO – Our history books are filled with the names of those who were first, the intrepid figures who undertook the seemingly impossible in the name of exploration and discovery. But what about the names of those lost along the way?

That’s the underlying question of “Terra Nova,” the current show from the University of Maine’s School of Performing Arts. Written by Ted Tally and directed by Julie Arnold Lisnet and running through Feb. 20, it’s the story of the ill-fated British expedition to the South Pole. The race to be first was ultimately won by the Norwegians, but what these five brave men lost was not just the race to glory, but their very lives.

Adapted from the journals of Robert Scott, the leader of the British expedition, this is a story of what it means to sacrifice everything in the name of knowing the unknown. As these men struggle across a seemingly unending sheet of ice, we’re left to watch as their time slowly, inexorably ticks away. But even as all seemed lost, the one thing that these men never lost … was their courage.

ORONO – There are some curious goings-on currently afoot at the University of Maine.

UMaine’s School of Performing Arts is presenting John Patrick’s classic 1950 comedy “The Curious Savage.” The production, directed by Julie Arnold Lisnet, is taking place at Hauck Auditorium on the University of Maine campus; the show runs through November 18.

The show tells the story of a widowed woman whose deceased husband placed a lot of money in her care – money that her unpleasant stepchildren would like to get their hands on. They’re willing to go so far as to have her committed, but what they don’t count on is the strength and smarts of their stepmother – or the help she might find in unexpected places.

ORONO – A classic allegory is coming to animalistic life at UMaine.

The University of Maine School of Performing Arts (SPA) is presenting Orwell’s “Animal Farm” inside the intimate Al Cyrus Pavilion Theatre on the Orono campus. The show, directed by Alan Liam Estes, runs through Oct. 28.

ORONO – A beloved comedic classic is springing (or summering) to life at the University of Maine.

UMaine’s School of Performing Arts is presenting their production of William Shakespeare’s beloved “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Directed by Marcia Joy Douglas, the play runs through Nov. 19 at UMaine’s Hauck Auditorium.

Collaborative UMaine production engaging, thought-provoking