Mar. 13--In a large rented space on Main Street, a bank of computers sits on an elevated platform along the west windows. A thin wall cuts down the center of the space, dividing it into two long, rectangular rooms.

On the left, another collection of computers and monitors hums away and a huge green screen, illuminated by two bright lights on tripod stands, dominates the back wall. On the right, a subtly shifting pastoral scene is projected onto the wall as a pair of actors prepare to run through their lines.

Computer programmers, videographers and artists, largely indistinguishable from one another as they rove around the space, busily ready themselves for the night's rehearsal. One programmer, Jon Bona, a graduate student in the University at Buffalo's computer science and engineering program, is preparing a small legion of robots to do battle with each other while local musician Dave Kane sets up his multitiered keyboards.

Welcome to "WoyUbu," an ambitious and wildly interdisciplinary collaboration among the University at Buffalo's Intermedia Performance Studio, the performance troupe Real Dream Cabaret and the Canisius College department of computer science. The project, which opens tonight, combines two pieces of theater, Georg Buchner's "Woyzeck" and Alfred Jarry's "Ubu Roi" -- difficult plays even when taken separately -- into an interactive production that explores technology's largely untapped potential for theater.

"We're taking traditional theater to within an inch of its life," said Sarah Bay-Cheng, a founder of the IPS and professor at UB. But taking in a performance of "WoyUbu," the normal theatergoer might consider that a vast understatement.

As audience members enter the space, they're greeted by what Bay-Cheng described as "robotic dramaturgs," who, in one way or another, will guide them to choose which side of the venue to enter. The left side features a performance of "Ubu Roi" by the Real Dream Cabaret in front of a green screen. Monitors on the wall pipe in black-and-white video of what's happening on the other side -- a performance of the dark, pro-to- absurdist "Woyzeck" (pronounced VOY-CHEK) by local actors Kate LoConti and Joseph Wiens -- while patrons are encouraged to play a series of video games on computer terminals that line the wall.

Meanwhile, audience members who have chosen to enter the right side of the space are in for a slightly more traditional theatergoing experience. While LoConti and Wiens perform, video of the Real Dream Cabaret's performance is projected onto a wall. In place of the green screen, however, are various backgrounds filmed by the troupe's members and assorted other visual information. And somewhere in there will also be an elaborate robot war conducted on a mock battlefield of green carpeting.

If all this sounds complex, so are the project's ever-developing aims: to explore issues of power and control, of gender and sex, and of the pervasive role of the subconscious in all aspects of life.

For LoConti, a lecturer in the UB theater department who can often be found on the city's more straight-ahead stages, the project represents a rare venture that brings together artistic worlds that would not otherwise converge.

"It's a true collaboration," LoConti said, comparing the project's ethos to similar pieces she has worked on in Europe and South America. "It's almost utopic."

PREVIEW:

--What: "WoyUbu"

--When: Tonight through March 28

--Where: IPSpace, 1716 Main St.

--Tickets: $10, $5 for students and seniors INFO: 568-4855 or www.woyubu.org

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