Just how bare bones is Joanna Williams' and Ashley Noyes' upcoming production at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival?

Following her interview with the Langley Advance last week, Williams went costume hunting at the local Value Village.

"It's rogue theatre, with a rogue budget," Williams said.

The former Langley residents and Walnut Grove Secondary grads (Williams is a member of WGSS's Class of 2001, Noyes graduated in '07) have - along with three other UBC theatre graduates - co-founded the company Bright Young Theatre, and are producing, and, in Williams' case, starring in a production during the festival.

Miss Cosmos: The 53rd Annual Intergalactic Space Bride Competition revolves around a unique competition, and for the characters, winning is a matter of life and death.

"A few of the other founders of Bright Young Theatre came up with this idea," Noyes said. "It's a devised piece so they sort of wrote the script."

In Miss Cosmos, aliens have landed on earth and are about to take part in a quasi beauty pageant, Williams explained.

Each contestant is the sole survivor of her own home planet that has recently gone supernova.

They arrive on earth to take part in the Miss Cosmos pageant with the aim of convincing the live audience that they are the best at being human.

The winner will earn the right to continue their existence on earth, as an honourary human being.

The unfortunate losers will be jettisoned into space, to be swallowed by the black holes that are all that remain of what they once called home.

"It's pertinent that they win because if they don't, they will die," she said.

Audience members play a big role in the production. Each night, they will vote to decide the winner.

"What they're competing to do is to be the very best human that they can be," Williams explained. "So we kind of poke fun at what people do to try to fit in and what people's perception of what a human is."

Williams plays the host character who is disgruntled with the other competitors, but she wasn't about to tip her hand why.

"You have to come and see," she said.

Noyes is the stage manager.

"Slash wardrobe slash lighting person slash crew," Williams noted.

"I'm the one technician for the show," Noyes said.

Williams believes everything will "miraculously" fall into place with the premiere closing in.

With live theatre, there is no second take and for Williams, who has performed in live theatre throughout high school and at the community theatre locally, the pressure of being on point is a huge thrill, even on the odd occasion when she has had to improvise.

"For me, that's the most fun part," she said. "You really feel alive. You have no choice but to just go with it. It's a rush."

Noyes, who has focused on stage management the past few years, said even backstage, she gets butterflies.

"You never know if all the lights are going to work, or the sound," she said.

Williams and Noyes grew up in Langley.

Though they have both recently moved to Vancouver, Williams continues to work locally and both her's and Noyes' parents still live in Langley and are visited often by their daughters.

Having received her diploma in theatre from Douglas College and her bachelor of fine arts in acting from UBC, Williams is ready to transition into the professional theatre world.

Bright Young Theatre is creating and producing this site-specific show with the Vancouver Fringe Festival's onsite mentorship program.

Miss Cosmos premieres Friday, Sept. 7 on Granville Island, at the playground by the water park.

If you would like to meet some of the galaxy's most eligible bachelorettes and then vote for your favourite, make your way to the Vancouver Fringe Festival box office or visit vancouverfringe.com to buy tickets.

It is an "all ages" show and ticket prices range from $10 to $12 each.

Miss Cosmos runs Sept. 7 to 16 at 8:20 p.m. (rain or shine).