It was such a hit last season at Denver Center Theatre Company's Ricketson Theatre, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, returns Sept. 23 to the 250-seat, velvet-walled jewelbox of the Ricketson, in the Denver Center complex.

Laird Williamson recreates his direction from last season, as do designers Andrew V. Yelusich (sets and costumes), Charles MacLeod (lighting) and Craig Breitenbach and Tim Hadley (sound).

Previews, some of which have sold out, began Sept. 15. Opening is Sept. 23. Performances continue to Oct. 23.

The Off-Broadway (and now regional) hit by Moises Kaufman tells in presentational, docudrama terms the beginning of the end of the Irish playwright's celebrated career and social life at the end of the 19th century. Sodomy charges and countercharges proved Wilde's undoing, at the height of his fame.

Recited documentation from the period, mixed with contemporary commentary plus realistic courtroom-drama acting, made the play an intriguing hybrid in its all-male Off-Broadway run. The DCTC staging includes actresses. Jamie Horton is Oscar Wilde, Randy Moore is Edward Clarke, William Denis is the Marquess of Queensberry, Robert Westenberg is Edward Carson, Douglas Harmsen is Lord Alfred Douglas, Mark Rubald is Marvin Taylor, Erik Tieze is Frank Harris, Tony Church is The Judge. The ensemble (larger than the Off-Broadway tradition) includes T. Ramon Campbell, Mayhill Fowler, Shannon Koob, Rodney Lizcano, Jeffrey Roark, Gregory Sanders and Brian Shea.

Tickets are $31-$36. For information, call (303) 893-4100.

-- By Kenneth Jones