A prestigious international gathering devoted to all aspects of theater and drama, the conference is expected to draw up to 200 scholars from all 50 states as well as the world theatre community. The conference will take place from March 31 to April 2 at the Warner Center Marriott, 21850 Oxnard St. in Woodland Hills.

The keynote address will be given on Friday, April 1, by the University of Pittsburgh's J. Thomas Rimer, author, editor and translator of more than 30 works on literature, art history, philosophy and theater. Rimer will speak on postwar productions of Greek tragedy in Athens and Tokyo.

"Our net is cast fairly wide. It won't be a bunch of people with beards, all wearing tweeds," said CSUN theatre professor and historian Kevin Wetmore, who was recently named chair of the Comparative Drama Conference Board and director of the 29-year-old conference. The conference will be convening at CSUN for the next five years.

Hardly the exclusive domain of theater people, Wetmore said the conference is a magnet for people with interests in fields as various as language, literature, linguistics, even political science, who want to hear about Yiddish, Korean or Bulgarian theater and more.

It will feature papers and presentations in three-person panels, chaired by CSUN faculty from Pan African Studies or English, for example, or from Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for Cal State Northridge to let the theater world know about the tremendous theatrical heritage here in our area, from 17 Century missionaries' mystery plays, to Culture Clash, to El Teatro Campesino, the East West Players and Arab American theatre," Wetmore said.

"Rather than seeing only Hollywood," he added, "people will see a vibrant theater and a vibrant university committed to the arts. I think CSUN and CDC are a very good fit."

The 2005 conference will bring in elements of Pacific Rim cultures. "We want to take advantage of our area strengths as part of the Pacific Rim and the center of Chicano culture," the CDC director said. A South Korean avant-garde theater performance is planned for this year's gathering together with master classes, he noted.

Staged readings will be another CSUN conference innovation, in which directors, actors and writers will have plays read aloud with audience discussion afterwards. "This will open people up to new works," said Wetmore, "and allow them to discover new plays."

Activities each day are expected to begin at 8 a.m., concluding at 10 p.m. each night.

The conference is open to the public. General admission is $59 for the entire conference or $25 for one day. Student admission is $25 for the entire conference or $10 per day.