With its proximity and low ticket prices, UMass offers many opportunities for the enthusiastic theatergoer. Although UMass often presents more traditional shows than does Amherst College, the University won't be singing "Tradition."

Indeed, the UMass Theater season doesn't kick off with "Fiddler on the Roof," but with "Lydia on the Top Floor." This original production employs music, dance and projected images to enact one moment from the life of Lydia, a Puerto Rican woman who lives in the Bronx and teaches her daughter how to hold her head up high in the early 1960s. "Lydia" is presented by Terry Jenoure (who leads on violin and with vocals), Bejewelled and New WORLD Theater. Performances begin on Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. at the Curtain Theater.

In Lynne Alvarez's "The Reincarnation of Jaime Brown," a father searches for his diseased son, James, and seems to find him in an unlikely place-as a smooth-talking young woman named Jaime. But is she really his son reincarnated? Carey Perloff of the American Conservatory Theatre praises Alvarez's "magical and mysterious plays" for their characters' "longing, imagination and outrageous sense of humor." "The Reincarnation of Jaime Brown" is sure to intrigue audiences starting on Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. at the Curtain Theater.

UMass Theater concludes the fall semester with "A Christmas Carol." The Dickens story is reimagined in a new adaptation by Maryann Lombardi that focuses on Jacob Marley and his relationship with Ebenezer Scrooge. Because Marley, now a ghost, was himself a wretched miser, he tries to ensure that this same fate does not befall his former business partner. "A Christmas Carol" rings in the holidays beginning on Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. at the Rand Theater.

The UMass Theatre Guild, a separate, student-run organization, will produce two other revivals this semester. The Guild is clearly going through a Sondheim stage, having put on "Company" last year and with "Into the Woods" slated for this November. The fairy tale musical brings together Cinderella, Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood and tells of a baker and his wife who must lift the spell cast upon their house. Don't mistake this smart show for a simple, happily-ever-after story. Performances commence on Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. in the Bowker Auditorium.

If Sondheim is the Shakespeare of musical theater, then it's fitting that the work of the latter should accompany that of the former: the bard's Scottish tragedy "Macbeth," starts Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. To get more information or to join the UMass Theatre Guild's artistic team, visit www.umass.edu/rso/guild.

And do not fear, Amherst theatergoers; a fall preview of Amherst productions is in rehearsal.