The value of Greg Kozatek’s Beanie Baby collection has plummeted since he started amassing the once-hot plush toys in the late 90s. But the Beanies have become an invaluable part of the set that he and George Hoffmann, a fellow designer, created for “The Capables,” a new drama by Jay Stull. Thousands of items reach to the ceiling and stretch across the floor of the Gym at Judson, the theater where the show, about a hoarder and her family, plays through Aug. 3.

Mr. Hoffmann and Mr. Kozatek, both 25, brainstormed ideas during a weekend marathon of the A&E reality TV show “Hoarders.” What most sparked their imagination was an episode about a woman who stored and categorized her belongings in stacks of plastic containers.

“It was probably the saddest story emotionally,” said Mr. Kozatek, who works as a designer at Todd Oldham Studio. “But visually we were blown away. It was an organized hoard. It was almost serene.”

Anna Capable, the hoarder at the heart of Mr. Stull’s play, also accumulates with orderly purpose. “She sees herself as an artist who wants to make something beautiful that everyone else thinks is horrible,” Mr. Stull said. “We are going for an intentional, curated collection of things that some people mistake for being pathological but Anna views as being necessary for survival.”