On Wednesday, the Clarence Brown Theater box office opened their doors at noon to greet a line of people stretched across the lobby.

These patrons were in line to secure tickets for the first preview of “39 Steps,” the theater’s first play of the fall season. In addition to being the theater’s first performance of fall 2015, Wednesday night was also the first night in which the “Pay What You Wish” program was implemented.

The program has many counterparts around the country, some alternatively known as “pay what you can” programs. Robin Conklin, marketing and communications director at the Clarence Brown Theater, shared the goal behind the initiative.

“By creating this program, we have taken away the roadblock of price,” Conklin explained. “It was an entire team effort, everyone at the theater was involved.”

David Byrd, managing director of the theater, was one of the key players in bringing the program to realization.

“It’s been something that has been on the brain for a while, but as we as an institution started to really grapple with various goals of ours including diversity, community engagement, etc., this kind of bubbled to the service,” Byrd said. “Now seems like the right time.”

Before the opening preview, the theater reached out to local organizations such as the Knoxville Area Urban League, the Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“We’ve worked with a lot of community partners to help us spread the word about the program, because the program is only going to be as successful as it is used,” Byrd said.

Although the organizations have enthusiastically communicated the information, it remains up to individuals to make the trip to the theater for the show. Byrd hopes that many will take advantage of the program and show up to the first preview of each new performance.

What is a preview exactly? It is different from the premiere; a preview is essentially a dress rehearsal in front of a paid audience.

“Tonight, in addition to the patrons that are here to see the show, the director is in the audience, the designers are in the audience, there are other members of our personnel who are watching the play with the audience,” Byrd shared.

The advantage of a preview is that it gives the actors a chance to fine tune their performance for future nights based off of audience interactions.

“The audience is an essential component of the preview process,” Byrd continued. “We kind of joke about it in the theater that the audience is the fifth character and they really are.”

While viewing a preview in itself offers a unique opportunity, the additional offer of the “Pay What You Wish” program seems to be what led to the box office line on Wednesday afternoon – a community response that was exactly what the theater had hoped.

“It’s more about from a ‘community’ standpoint, we want to make our professional theater experience available to as many members of our community as possible,” said Conklin.

Tickets for each first preview are available on the day of the performance from noon to 7 p.m. at the Clarence Brown Theater Box Office kiosk in the theater lobby.