After the University theater’s production of “The Grapes of Wrath,” audience members will probably forgo a night on the town for a shower. If all goes according to plan, anyway.

Stifled by the absence of a budget, director George Contini chose to make the set of his production completely out of other people’s discarded junk. However, to Contini, the trash-props aren’t just the result of a lacking budget, but are also accurate portrayals of the novel’s imagery.

“When I was doing my research, I found these references where Steinbeck described the camps that they used to sleep in as looking like junkyards,” Contini said. “At the same time, my neighborhood was having foreclosures. All of these people were just dumping their belongings in their yard before they left, which inspired me to create the entire set out of junk.”

From there, Contini proposed the idea to the cast.

“[I advised them to] start raiding attics, cellars and farms to get old and rusty items,” he said. But only after receiving tetanus shots.

Much to Contini’s surprise, the cast delivered, bringing in 250 props found either at thrift stores or as discarded trash.

“We would grab things in rehearsal and say, ‘Hey what can this be?’ and then make something from it,” Contini said. In fact, the main prop of the play, the jalopy-truck, is entirely composed of trash-items, including the tires, steering wheel and bed.

The transformation of trash into props, by definition, makes this production a concept play, as the set symbolizes the concept of the characters fighting to overcome poverty. Still, the cast initially found it hard to interact with the junk-props.

“In the beginning, [the props] looked to us like a bunch of junk, but as the weeks progressed we really began to see what they represented,” said Allison Perfetti, a theater major from Morristown who plays multiple roles in the production.

Contini’s style of directing has proven to be just as abnormal as the medley of trash-props.

Prior to blocking the play, he made the cast tape-record all of the dialogue separately. He then played the tapes at the first rehearsals and required the actors to perform, without speaking, along to the pre-recorded dialogue.

To push the play’s dirtiness a step further, the male cast members have been growing out their facial hair for several weeks.

“[The beards] weren’t required, but they were asked, and we kind of took it upon ourselves to make them as bushy as possible,” said one actor. “So we haven’t shaved in weeks, which is hard because it itches – but whatever will make the play better.”

In this production of “The Grapes of Wrath,” Contini and the cast hope to reiterate that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and in this case, the treasure is a minimalist-production that defies the restraints of money.