Would you like a Moon Pie with your Rusty Nail?
That could be a question patrons hear when they attend a showing of “Million Dollar Quartet” at the new Stolp Island Theatre in downtown Aurora.
As the theater nears its mid-July opening, officials are gearing up for all the different parts of the experience of an immersive theater, and that includes the food and drink.
An immersive theater is about the entire experience, according to Tanya Jarvis, of the Aurora Civic Center Authority.
“When a patron walks into the theater, they are kind of in the show,” she said.
Jarvis spoke recently at a City Council Public Health, Safety and Transportation Committee meeting, where the Civic Center Authority was seeking authority for a liquor license at the new theater.
“Million Dollar Quartet” takes place during one evening in which four iconic musicians – Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash – meet during their formative musical years at Sun Records in Memphis. They played their music, jammed together and chatted, with some of the performances captured in recordings.
The play relives part of that evening, and the immersive theater seeks to transport people back to that time, right down to the refreshments being served.
“You are so close to the stage,” Jarvis told aldermen, describing the immersive theater experience. “Nobody participates, but you feel like you are living that day.”
Which is why the refreshments will include period drinks like a Rusty Nail, an Old Fashioned or just a can of Schlitz beer, and the snacks will include Moon Pies and Twinkies. There will also be Pepsi in bottles of that era available.
The refreshments will be on sale for an hour leading up to the show, and during a short intermission, in a lobby created to look like the street outside the Sun Records building, and a cafe next door.
Ald. Ted Mesiacos, 3rd Ward, a committee member, asked if, with alcohol being served, there should be food served more substantive than just snacks.
Jarvis said there is not enough space in the suites being remodeled for a full-time kitchen that would meet health department specifications. The 98-seat theater is being remodeled into suites in the city’s Stolp Island parking garage, along the Riverwalk, between Benton Street and Downer Place.
Aldermen on another City Council committee, Finance, have recommended a 20-year lease between the Civic Center Authority and the city for the space. The lease would be $1 a year, or $20 over the 20-year period.
Jarvis said it is the policy of the Civic Center Authority not to provide much in the way of food, because “the whole goal is to try to get people downtown to the restaurants.”
“We’re trying to get them here to go to dinner,” she said.
As to more substantive snacks, Jarvis said authority officials will “keep their ears open” to what patrons want, as the theater opens. The Civic Center Authority, with the shows presented at the Paramount Theatre, the Copley Theatre and RiverEdge Park, constantly survey patrons.
“We love patron feedback,” Jarvis said.
Officials are planning on a long run for “Million Dollar Quartet.” The show is already sold out well into September.
Aldermen recommended creating the liquor license for the theater, which will go on to the City Council Committee of the Whole on Tuesday.
The City Council has authority to create the number of liquor license available, but the license is issued by the city’s liquor commissioner, which is the mayor.
