University Theatre will begin its 2017-2018 Season with A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations), written by Sam Shepard and directed by J. Daniel Herring. It was the final play written by Shepard, the late American Playwright.

The production, which will run Sept. 29 through Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. (Oct. 1 performance begins at 2 p.m.) in the Dennis & Cheryl Woods Theatre at Fresno State, is dedicated in memory of Shepard.

In A Particle of Dread, Sam Shepard takes one of the most famous plays in history — Oedipus Rex — and transforms it into a modern American classic. In this telling, Oedipus, King of Thebes, prophetically fated to kill his father and marry his mother, alternates between his classical identity and that of contemporary "Otto."