You’ve set your new play in a supermarket, and it’s about to get staged. So how do you stock the set without breaking the bank? UT MFA playwright Kendall Lynch was facing just that problem with her Aisle 7, which concerns a woman who thinks her grocery store may be the most wonderful place on the planet and which was tapped by the UT Department of Theatre & Dance for a slot on its 2005-2006 production season. The solution? Get the audience involved. Thus, everyone who comes to the world premiere production at the B. Iden Payne Theatre this week and next is encouraged to bring along some canned goods or nonperishable items that can be used to dress the show’s Greenway Grocery. Don’t think, however, that your donation will just be aiding an up-and-coming playwright and her show; all the goods given to the production will then be donated to the Capital Area Food Bank, where they’ll be helping others in greater need.
Actually, that isn’t the only way Aisle 7 is getting audiences in on the action. Director Corey Atkins has put the seating on the Payne Theatre stage, so the crowd will be engaged in the supermarket saga on aisle level, as it were. “Passive viewers, beware!” he warns. Be warned, too, that this arrangement makes for much more limited seating than usual in the Payne. Instead of the 500 seats available in the house, only 100 seats will be set up on stage. Make your reservations accordingly.
Aisle 7 runs Feb. 24-March 5. Wed.-Sat., 8pm; Sat. and Sun., 2pm, in the B. Iden Payne Theatre, Winship Drama Bldg., 23rd and San Jacinto. For more information, call 477-6060 or visit www.utexas.edu/cofa/theatre.
This article appears in February 24 • 2006.