Many of the world's great thinkers, from Plato to Shakespeare to Benjamin Franklin, have been fascinated by the idea of beauty. Add to that distinguished list playwright Tina Landau, whose play "Beauty" opens in its world premiere Sept. 16 at La Jolla Playhouse. Landau and dramaturg Heidi Coleman talked recently about the play's development, which involved years of thought and experimentation.

Landau, who also directs the production, said she has always been obsessed with the words "sleep" and "beauty." "And it never occurred to me until my very recent adult life that there is a tale named 'Sleeping Beauty,' and to think about the metaphor that is imbedded in that.

"I thought about it off and on. Then when Des McAnuff (artistic director at La Jolla Playhouse) talked to me about coming here, he suggested one or two plays I might direct, but he also asked me what my passion was. I gave him a one-sentence synopsis of a play about beauty."

Before beginning to write, Landau said she read fairy tales by Perrault, the Brothers Grimm and many other writers.

The play began to take shape when Landau was invited to UC San Diego in the fall of 2001 to work with first-year students in the university's Master of Fine Arts program. She had been promised the freedom to work with the students on any theater subject she chose. The choice became obvious on Sept. 11, a week before she was schedule to leave New York for San Diego. The horror of the terrorist attacks affected her and she said she "also felt a sense of the importance of beauty in the world."

At UCSD, Landau developed a 75-minute version of the play. Five of the students who participated in that production are appearing in the La Jolla Playhouse production.

Landau described her method of directing as compositional.

"I work with the actors and the playwright, asking everyone's point of view. I then divide them into small groups and give them a list of elements I'm looking for. I hope that they will engage in composing scenes. Putting all these compositions together produces a reckless, intuitive mess. People react to various elements: a piece of fabric, in one case three candles. I usually take a week to put these pieces together; it's a framing technique. I take what they've made and cut and paste to produce something. An idea. A concept.

"An overview," Coleman interjected.

Landau agreed. "And the piece changes constantly, which is not unusual. A play is done when opening night comes, but that means done for that version. When (composer) Adam Guettel and I were working on 'Floyd Collins,' it changed after the first opening, then again on the next production. By the time we did it at Old Globe, we had it as we wanted it, seven years after the original production. For 'Beauty,' after I composed and directed the student version, I also did workshops at the University of Chicago and Northwestern."

The story at present has three principals. An old crone named Constance retells the story of "Sleeping Beauty" from her own perspective, a tale for contemporary audiences. In a medieval timescape, a beautiful girl named Rose comes of age just as the world comes into the modern era. At the same time, James, a young man in a modern metropolis, sets off on a journey into the past to search for the beauty that has been lost in our present hectic, unsettled culture.

"These characters are aware that they are in a fairy tale," Landau said, "and of the shackles the tales impose. Rose knows she has to live up to 'Sleeping Beauty' standards."

"We respect the structure of the fairy tale," Coleman added, "but we play with it."

"Basically I took the fairy tale and adapted it," Landau said. "There has never been an adult version of the story. There's a vast amount of poetry, children's plays and a ballet, but no one looked at what happens after the fairy tale ends. Why want to 'live happily ever after'?"

Landau's version combines elements of various time periods and cultures.

"The design is the most flexible Riccardo Hernandez could come up with," Landau said. "The same with Melina Root's costumes and Scott Zielinski's lighting. There are seven or eight songs, a mixture of medieval lyrics and original music by composers and sound designers Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen. I've done several shows with them."

Kelli O'Hara, seen most recently on Broadway opposite John Lithgow in "Sweet Smell of Success," plays Rose. Jason Danieley, who played Malcolm in the Old Globe/Broadway production of "The Full Monty," plays James. Lisa Harrow, formerly with the Royal Shakespeare Company, plays the crone, Constance. Richard Tibbitts, a Lamb's Players and San Diego Rep veteran, is the Musician. Other actors in the cast are from UCSD master's acting program, including David Ari, Corey Brill, Simone Vicari Moore, Adam Smith and Amy Stewart.

Landau has done unusual plays before at La Jolla Playhouse. In 1992, she directed "Marisol," a surreal look at contemporary life in New York, and returned in 1995 for the romantic fantasy "Cloud Tectonics."

During her final week of rehearsals, Landau said, "I'm working in a hypnotic state. 'Beauty' is a challenge, but I'm ready. I'm leaving after the opening, but I'll come back once or twice to check on the show. I've never before been so welcome anywhere as at La Jolla Playhouse."

"Beauty"

Where: La Jolla Playhouse, on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Village Drive at Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla

When: Opens Sept. 16 and runs through Oct. 19; show times, 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays; 7 p.m. Sundays;

Tickets: $35-$49; children ages 12-17 are half-price; $15 rush tickets on day of show (subject to availability)

Information: (858) 550-1010