The Artists Repertory Theatre of Portland, OR, will trace the history of the last hundred years, from Oscar Wilde to Margaret Edson, with their 1999-2000 season. Planned productions include Gross Indecency, Present Laughter, A Raisin in the Sun, Master Class and Wit.

Opening the season with a run Sept. 7-Oct. 17 will be Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, an expose of sexuality, censorship and the playwright who wrote the classic, The Importance of Being Ernest. Oregon Drammy Award winner (Travels With My Aunt) Michael Laswell directs.

In celebration of the centennial of Noel Coward's birth, his Present Laughter will run from Nov. 9-Dec. 19. ART associate artistic director Jon Kretzu directs this comic tale of a self-obsessed actor caught between a tempestuous married woman, an amorous rich young lady and a star-struck young man.

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (Jan. 11-Feb. 20, 2000) is the story of three generations of the Youngers, an African American family struggling on Chicago's South Side in the 1950's. In 1959, when the play premiered, Hansberry became the only black writer to win the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Play .

Master Class Terrence McNally's glimpse into several "master classes" held by opera diva Maria Callas, runs March 14-April 23, 2000. Kretzu directs. The 1999 Pulitzer Prize winner, Edson's Wit, finishes off the season with the final moments of John Donne scholar Vivian Bearing, a brilliant professor of literature, dying of ovarian cancer. Allen Nause directs the play, running May 16-June 25.

Subscriptions ($120-$40) may be ordered by calling the ART box office at (503) 241-1ART. The Artists Repertory Theatre is located at 1616 SW Alder Street.

-- By Christine Ehren