A micro- or nanopatterned planar-aligned cell ordinarily requires a pair of mirror-image patterned substrates that must be aligned in register to ⪡1μm. As an alternative we examine the director orientation profile of a nematic liquid crystal in a cell composed of one substrate whose easy axis is patterned on micrometer length scales λ and a second substrate treated for planar degenerate alignment using polymethyl methacrylate. For cell thickness <λ, the experimentally measured director profile in the bulk corresponds approximately to that imposed at the micropatterned substrate. The results are compared with theoretical calculations. This method provides an excellent alternative to the use of a pair of substrates aligned in close register.