Let's be honest, if I told you two very skilled college theater departments were staging productions of classic American plays this weekend, you wouldn't get too excited about that, would you? Instead, prompted by a suggestion from Volcano editor Ron Swarner, let's pretend these productions are duking it out mano-a-mano, head to dramatic head. South Sound drama programs, prepare to enter the Octagon!

In this corner, weighing in at 72 years old with a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, is Thornton Wilder's three-part allegorical comedy The Skin of Our Teeth. It takes us to the fictional town of Excelsior, New Jersey, where the Antrobus family subs for all of humanity. (Fittingly, their name is derived from the Greek anthropos, meaning "person.") The Antrobus patriarch and matriarch are based on Adam and Eve, their maid Lily Sabina alludes to Lilith (in Hebrew legend, Adam's first wife) and to the Roman abductions of Sabine women. The play's title is a lift from the King James translation of Job. So yes, this play boasts mountains of classical archetypes. It also includes a dinosaur, and really, shouldn't every play? Wouldn't Death of a Salesman, for example, gain immeasurably from the judicious application of velociraptors? SPSCC's production is directed by James Van Leishout (As You Like It, Hamlet).

And, in the soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown, weighing in at 67 and boasting its own Pulitzer for Drama, is Tennessee Williams's game-changing drama, A Streetcar Named Desire. The histrionics of aging belle Blanche DuBois represent the exaggerated performance styles of 19th-century melodrama, while working-class Stanley Kowalski, legendarily played by 23-year-old Marlon Brando, highlights the Method acting techniques of Constantin Stanislavski and his acolytes. (Did you catch the similar names?) The American stage would never be the same. Director Jess K Smith's UPS production costars a live jazz combo. Incidentally, if you're seeking a good excuse for depression today, consider this aside from Wikipedia: "Blanche is thought to be based on Williams' sister, Rose Williams, who struggled with mental health issues and became incapacitated after a lobotomy." Good times!

These are two of the finest plays of the 1940s, the reformative years of American theater. So who reigns supreme in this epic battle of the bards? Why, you do, of course. You have a chance to see both.

THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through March 15, South Puget Sound Community College, 2011 Mottman Rd. SW, Olympia, $7-$12, 360.753.8586

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday through March 7, University of Puget Sound, 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma, $7-$11, 253.879.3330