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Listen to a conversation between a student and a university theater manager.

I’m sorry if my email wasn’t clear. It’s probably best that we are meeting now. I have a lot of questions.

So do I. But first let me say that I’m so glad that this tradition is continuing. I guess for the last twenty years now, every senior classes put on a Shakespeare Play.

It won’t be anything like the drama department’s productions in the main theater, but we are really excited. We are doing “As You Like It” this year.

Great! Let’s start with the timing. You want the production to run on two consecutive nights, Thursday and Friday?

Right. The end of April will be best. Maybe the last Thursday and Friday?

We are flexible with the dates.

The only bookings at the small theater are some recitals in the beginning of the month, so I’ll make sure to get it on the calendar. But your other questions.let’s see. You want to use fire on stage?

Well, our idea is to reproduce the conditions of an Elizabethan playhouse, make it as authentic as possible. And of course, they didn’t have electric lights 500 years ago. So we thought if we had candles, a lot of candles actually.

To light the stage?

Yeah.

Okay. Um.you’d need a special permit. You could get one from the city council. But for one thing, it’s difficult and time-consuming to get permission and expensive. And it’s not just a permit, you’ll have to pay for an inspection and to have a fire marshal present at the shows.

That does sound expensive. If we had a budget like the drama department.but it looks like we’ll have to scale back a bit.

Are you charging admission?

There will be a small admission fee. In Shakespeare’s time, if you paid a little more, you got a more comfortable seat. I don’t see how we could do that though. I mean, all the seats are the same, right?

Right. I guess you could charge more for the seats upfront, but it’s a small theater.

And there isn’t much difference between the front and the back.

Anyway, for lighting, you could buy those electric lanterns that are made to look as if they had a natural flame.

If that’s the best we can do, not exactly authentic, though.

But safer and less expensive. And about the food.

Selling food was also done in Shakespeare’s time. It’s related to the candles actually. When the candles burn down, they stops the play so they can bring out new ones, and that’s when they sold snacks. That’s how the custom of having an intermission started.

I always thought intermissions began as a way to change the scenery.

Oh, speaking of scenery.do you have the exact dimensions of the stage?

Sure.