The lead character in Carlo Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters," Truffaldino is exactly what the title says he is -- a servant trying to double his income by working for two masters. His increasingly frantic efforts to keep each from finding out about the other, complicated by an increasingly knotty tangle of other characters, is the stuff of classic physical and verbal comedy -- the kind of thing most of us know from the great slapstick artists of the 20th century.

But Goldoni wrote "The Servant of Two Masters" in the mid-18th century, toward the end of a period known as commedia dell'arte, when this kind of zany comedy was very popular in Italy.

Deep Dish Theater Company in University Mall opens its eighth season Thursday with Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters," translated by Edward J. Dent.

The show will run through Sept. 13 at the company's home in University Mall.

Laurie Wolf plays Tuffaldino, who finds himself juggling -- literally and figuratively -- so much that, in spite of having two jobs, he can't find time to eat.

"Juggling is a strong central image -- and not just dexterous juggling of objects," said director Derrick Ivey. "The characters, especially Truffaldino, are desperately grasping and tossing -- trying to keep everything in the air because they can't commit to discarding one thing, but have a great desire to catch the next thing.

"Most of the time we can get by with balancing a few things, but there are days (as in this play) when you have to juggle for all your worth or risk dropping everything to the floor."

Ivey's numerous directing credits in the Triangle area includee recent Durham Savoyards productions of "The Yeoman of the Guard," "HMS Pinafore," "Patience" and "The Pirates of Penzance." He has worked with Deep Dish in a variety of roles, performing memorably as The Historical Event in "How I Got That Story" and as Orson Welles in "Orson's Shadow," as well as designing for such productions as "Hedda Gabler" (set), "Ancestral Voices" (set and costumes) and "Endgame" (lights).

Season tickets are on sale for Deep Dish's 2008-09 season, which will also include Wendy Wasserstein's "Third," Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" and "Jitney" by August Wilson.

In addition, Artistic Director Paul Frellick is making a special effort this year to introduce people to the theater's intimate performance space.

"We're still meeting people who think our location in Chapel Hill's University Mall is just a ticket office," he says. "We want them to discover how we've put a fully functional 74-seat theater into what was once a men's formal wear store."

Wednesdays and Thursday shows are at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for those shows are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and $12 for students.

Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m., and Sunday shows are at 2 p.m. Tickets for Friday through Sunday shows are $18 for adults, $16 for seniors, $14 for students.

The Deep Dish box office in University Mall is open Wednesday-Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m.

Tickets can also be ordered by visiting www.deepdishtheater.org or by calling 968-1515.