Let me tell you about my roommate/frowns upon my fun and frolic/ looks down upon me when I come in late/ he thinks I'm an alcoholic.

The frustrations and exhilarations of three sets of college roommates will be showcased in the musical Voices at 8 tonight and Tuesday in the HUB Fishbowl.

Voices author, composer and lead character Ted Potter (senior-electrical engineering) said his work's main 1theme deals with society's programming of human behavior. Rather than conforming to elders' and peers' wishes, characters in this original play listen to their personal "inner voices" for guidance. Set in the present time, the whimsical story's action takes place in two dorm rooms and a hallway.

Potter's product evolved from several songs he composed with inspiration from rock groups DEVO and The Beatles, and singer Billy Joel. Recognizing that some of his tunes were not rock album material, the artist turned to theater as a medium for their display, he said.

Potter took his songs and turned them into a musical. He equated creating a musical to making raisin bagels, saying songs are random raisins that must be carefully baked into the bagel to make a complete food. During his first semester at the University, Potter began molding a combination of piano ballads and upbeat shuffles into a workable plot. Since then, he said his piece has gone through numerous changes. From a cluttered Atherton dorm room the author has added, subtracted and deleted dialogue, scenes and songs.

"My hardest obstacle was taking Theater 440, a script writing class," Potter said. "I would see what was lacking in my script and then have to go back and change it."

Director Michael McCollin (senior-theater) said working on an original, unproduced musical with the author in its cast has permitted experimentation without fear of failing to live up to any previous expectations. For these reasons, rehearsal has also been a tough, time-consuming.

"When the entire cast is your friends it's hard to yell at them," McCollin said.

Thespians president Christopher Platt (senior-quantitative business analysis), one of the sources that Potter used to create his character Larry, said: "It's been a lot of headaches, but theater always is."

Platt said he enjoyed working with the Thespians cast and seeing the musical come together despite his missing classes and losing sleep.

"It's a huge accomplishment of Ted's that this has all come together," Platt said. "I'm glad I was part of it."

The musical, co-sponsored by the Thespians, the HUB Concert Series and the Student Foundation for the Performing Arts, is free to the public.