Five is the goal. Reach deep into your pocket and feel inside for any loose change. Unfurl your wallet and pull out some bills. When the five dollars are in your palm, you also have a chance to see five live UCSD Theatre and Dance productions throughout the 2001-02 season.

Theatre and Dance Chair Walton Jones developed the Five for Five program three years ago. The program enables UCSD students to attend five productions for $5, which is $23 off the student price.

For a dollar a night, students will be on their way to becoming regular theatre-goers, according to Promotions Manager Carolyn Passeneau.

“”Our theatre is thought provoking, cutting edge theatre,”” Passeneau said. “”We are not fluff. The productions we put on are very academic.””

She attributes the Five for Five program to the department’s passion to wanting to develops students in ways that only theatre can. Theatre is also a way for the “”community to come together and have theatre contribute to a national healing process,”” according to Passeneau.

Life’s A Dream will be students’ first opportunity to see a play as part of Five for Five. Students can catch this production of a Spanish Golden Age classic with a contemporary pop twist on a chance meeting of a prince and abandoned women. Written by Pedro Calderon de la Barca and directed by Suzanne Agins, it will be performed in the Mandell Weiss Forum from Nov. 15-24.

Other shows are The Duchess Malfi, An Evening of Dance, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a winter guest artists’ event that will be shown throughout the year.

The shows were chosen so UCSD could attend the theatre and see an exciting production that will have students coming back for more.

“”You get to see new things in out department,”” Passeneau said. “”We take risks and are very concerned with what is good theatre.””

Purchase the tickets at Galbraith Hall, room 202. Tickets are available from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. until Oct. 22. Each year the program grows, and the department is willing to accommodate those who want to buy tickets and will stay late if a line develops, but Passeneau advises getting tickets early.

“”We anticipate about 1,000 people to take part in this,”” she said. “”But the department wants everyone on this campus to be involved in this exciting season.””

Further information about dates, schedules and other events and shows can be found at the Theatre and Dance Department’s Web page at http://theatre.ucsd.edu