Correction: The credit for the accompanying photo was misattributed. The photo was taken by Allison Stock.

Sometimes, there is nothing more uncomfortably comedic than when people with one-too-few marbles talk to themselves in public.

“The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” written by Jane Wagner, features a bag lady named Trudy — played by Renee Gross, a sophomore in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance — who introduces the human species to a group of aliens. The audience meets an eccentric series of people who may or may not exist outside of Trudy’s perception of the universe.

Keleki Gottschalk, director and junior in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, described how disoriented Trudy is in her efforts to communicate anything to the aliens.

“She asked them specifically to meet her on the corner of ‘Walk, Don’t Walk’ around lunch time, but then she realizes they don’t know what lunch time is. … And why did she say ‘around?’ She should have been more specific,” Gottschalk said.

Because of these lapses, Trudy gets stood up.

“The aliens never show up. We’re just there in … place of the aliens look(ing) at ourselves,” she said.

The play’s title refers to the search for intelligent life in other parts of the universe — a search in which we assume humans already fit this criterion. This concept comes from one of the many Post-it notes attached to Trudy's jacket that she reads sporadically throughout the production.

“One of (the Post-its) is … ‘They found intelligent life in the universe that plays to play; we seem to be the only species that play to win, and that explains why we’re the only ones that have our fair share of losers,’ ” Gottschalk explained. “Just little things like that, that make you think for a second, laugh and then move on.”

The play examines concepts many see as trivial, and presents them in a similarly intriguing and comedic way.

“She’s talking about how her alien friends can’t tell the difference between a can of Campbell’s soup and a picture of Andy Warhol’s can of Campbell soup, and she always has to remind them ‘No this is soup, and this is art,’ ” Gottschalk said. “And then they look at a box of cream of wheat that has a picture of a guy holding up a box of cream of wheat … and they say ‘Oh my God, Trudy! This is a picture of infinity!’ ”

Gottschalk discovered Wagner’s play in high school, when she was performing a monologue from it. Originally written as a solo act for Wagner’s lover Lily Tomlin, Gottschalk put her own unique twist on it for Basement Arts.

“The more I read it, the more I grew to love it,” Gottschalk explained. “When Lily (Tomlin) did it as a one-woman show, it was her, a stage and a couple chairs. … She had very, very few props and just one costume, and I thought it would be interesting to flesh it out a little and produce it a little bit more.”

The props for the play, which all come from the contents of Trudy’s grocery cart of items she has collected over the years, may play a bigger role in the invention of the characters.

“I think it should be let a little bit open to interpretation, but the basic premise I’m working with is she’s collecting all these things, and she’s really into what she’s collected and she’s making these stories based on her junk heap,” Gottschalk explained. “I think what’s happening is Trudy kind of invents these people to pass the time … and she makes up the stories of this item and who it is.”

“These characters are trying to find a balance,” Gottschalk added. “Jane Wagner takes these interesting concepts and, by making a joke out of them, comes to really interesting conclusions.”