At noon Wednesday, theater lovers in the Washington area will have a chance to get free tickets to a show.
That’s when 3,500 free tickets to 24 local theaters will become available to the public as part of the third annual “Free Night of Theater.” Everyone who responds to the offer will be able to reserve two tickets. Tickets can’t be reserved by phone, only online.
Presented by the League of Washington Theatres (LOWT) and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the event is designed to encourage people to visit a theater for the first time and to allow regular theatergoers to visit a theater they have never attended before, perhaps because they couldn’t afford the tickets.
“Most of the theaters who are offering these tickets are our members, so this is part of a major audience development initiative,” said Nicola Daval, administrator for the League of Washington Theatres. “The theaters participate as much as they can depending on the size of their houses, how many tickets they have available and so on.”
In 2006 and 2007, D.C.-area theaters gave away tickets valued at more than $280,000.
“The tickets go live at noon on Wednesday and they go fast,” Daval said. “The first year, they went in five minutes. Last year, they went in 24 hours.
“Since the tickets disappear so quickly, this year we’re going to add a feature that will be available at certain theaters — a discount coupon. So if people can’t get the free tickets, they can at least get a few dollars off a regular ticket. They will get some kind of bargain that will encourage them to try a variety of theaters.”
The official night for the program is Oct. 16. Many shows in the program will be performed then, but some theaters don’t have performances that night, so the range of dates for the program has been expanded from Oct. 9 through Nov. 20.
“We want the tickets to go as far as possible,” Daval said. “We’re especially hoping that people who have never been to the theater before will take advantage of this offer. Last year it worked. Marketing directors and people who follow their patron bases saw unfamiliar names on their attendance lists. So the program really is bringing in new people.”
For information or tickets, visit www.lowt.org.
