Antonio Salieri pledges his life, his loyalty and his duty to God. In return, he asks for a single thing: the talent to bring God's glory to earth through music.

And God, it seems, agrees to that arrangement; Salieri becomes one of the most accomplished and successful composers in 18th-century Vienna.

"He feels he has made a compact with God, and that God has affirmed that compact and shown him special favor," said Joseph Haj, producing artistic director of PlayMaker Repertory Company. "And then along comes Mozart."

In Peter Shaffer's award-winning play "Amadeus," being staged by PlayMakers through April 20, the arrival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart confronts Salieri with a shocking, terrible truth: God has betrayed him. It is not Salieri, his loyal and loving servant, that God sings through, but Mozart -- an immature, boorish buffoon who utterly fails to appreciate the gift of musical genius he has been given, a gift that is all too apparent to Salieri.

"Salieri cannot reconcile himself to a God who gives those gifts to this profane, juvenile, selfish young man," said Haj, who is directing the PlayMakers production. "So he seeks to destroy Mozart in order to punish God."

That titanic spiritual struggle, which Haj describes as the Cain and Abel story transplanted to the Viennese royal court, forms the heart of Shaffer's play. "Amadeus" -- the name is Latin for "Loved by God," the play's central theme --won five Tony Awards, including Best Play, and was adapted into a film version that won eight Oscars, including Best Picture.

PlayMakers' production of "Amadeus" closes out its 2007-08 main stage season.

The play features Ray Dooley -- a longtime PlayMakers company member, a professor of dramatic art and head of UNC's professional actor training program -- as Salieri. And despite the title, Shaffer's play is really Salieri's story as he struggles to understand why God would fill him with such desire to create the music of the divine and then deny him the ability -- and to grant that ability instead to a decadent, irreverent clown.

"It's not that Mozart is more successful than Salieri," Dooley said. "But Salieri recognizes the greatness of Mozart's music; in fact, he's the only one who recognizes it as what he perceives to be the voice of God. And it torments him."

Vince Nappo plays Mozart. Nappo most recently appeared in "Phallacy" at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York's West Village. He performed in "The Merchant of Venice" and "The Jew of Malta" in repertory at New York City's Theatre for a New Audience -- appearing in both with F. Murray Abraham, who won a Best Actor Oscar for playing Salieri in the film version of "Amadeus."

PlayMakers production also features Mozart's incomparable music.

"Peter Shaffer said this is a play with two protagonists," Haj said. "But you have to have an antagonist, as well, and in this play the antagonist is God. The big question, from a directorial point of view, is how do you put God on the stage? And the answer is the music. The music is God."

Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. An additional 2 p.m. performance will be held this Saturday.

Post-show discussions will be held after performances tonight and Sunday, and an all-access performance for people with special needs is set for Tuesday.

All shows are in the Paul Green Theatre in the Center for Dramatic Art on Country Club Road. Tickets, on sale now at the center box office, are $10 to $40.

For information or to purchase tickets, call 962-PLAY or visit www.playmakersrep.org.