The theatre experience usually involves a walking into a commotion-filled lobby, a seat search, applause, a mad dash for the parking lot, with entertainment in between.

However, Peppermint Creek Theatre isn't limiting its audience's experience to a three to four hour come-and-go evening. Instead, it is giving its audiences an in-depth theater experience for their upcoming show, Third.

Peppermint Creek's new program, First Look, involves the audience members in the entire process of producing a play, from the first read to the first performance. Third Director and PTC Artistic Director, Chad Badgero, was inspired by a similar program the Chicago-based theater company, Steppenwolf, had done in the past.

"Let's give our patrons a more extended behind-the-scenes experience," Badgero said.

Participants in the First Look program will be incorporated into the artistic journey at three significant points with the cast and crew take as they work toward opening night. The audience will sit in on the first rehearsal, halfway through the rehearsal process, and opening night.

"They'll come to the show with a much deeper understanding of the text and play and the process to put the show on," Badgero said.

The cast and crew members will also benefit from First Look, too. Badgero said he anticipates that the participants' questions during rehearsals will probably expedite the actors' process of fully discovering the script. He said having an "outsider's view" of the play in rehearsal will help the actors to adjust and adapt to how audiences will react to the lines of this newer play.

Third takes place in an east coast liberal arts college and revolves around Laurie Jameson, a strong, feminist English teacher who prides herself on being an open-minded person. One of her students is Woodson Bull, III, or Third, as everyone calls him. He is a a wrestler, Republican and very intelligent. Another key character is Jameson's aging father, as well as Jameson's friend with terminal cancer and her daughter who turns out to be everything she is not.

Badgero said Third hits the points in PTC's mission statement, especially with creating dialogue. He said educators can relate to Jameson and her recurring struggle to not box students into certain stereotypes. Others can understand the hurt that comes along with cancer or an aging parent.

Badgero hopes participants in First Look will get a better sense of connection with the actors, than the average theatre-goer, as the participants will be alongside them throughout the tough journey of discovering the characters'' struggles throughout the script.