Theatre is a staple in New York City entertainment culture. Throughout history, it has been one of New York’s most influential and wide-reaching artistic mediums, and while that continues to be the case, oftentimes it remains inaccessible due to a key factor: cost. It’s a fact that theatre’s demographic is graying, and it’s due in large part to the high ticket price which is more common for older audiences to afford. The cost to stage a production is insanely high, leading to a higher ticket price, but this shouldn’t exclude younger audiences from theatre. With this in mind, I have compiled a list of my favorite ways to get cheaper tickets in the city in order to support the arts community and enrich yourself!
The first option is the TKTS booth in Times Square. The TKTS booth sits in Duffy Square and is a great option to see Broadway shows that have dipped in popularity. Broadway shows that don’t sell out their audiences on a given night will give the unsold tickets to the TKTS booth, and if you buy those tickets on the day of the show, you can save 15% to 20% on the ticket. This is accessible to everyone, not just students, and if you can get ahead of the line to buy the tickets to the more popular shows, you can snag some pretty amazing deals. The biggest downside to this option is the lack of control over what seat you get and the inconsistency of shows being on the board of options or not.
Then there is TodayTix (https://www.todaytix.com/), a discounted theatre ticketing service available to everyone. It was founded by Broadway producers, and the service has partnerships with various theaters throughout the country to give you discounted ticket options to most shows in the city. On some tickets, you can save as much as 50%! It’s a really great service for the theatre community as a whole! The only downside is that you often cannot select your seats for a given production; but I’ve never gotten an obstructed view or bad seat for how much I’ve paid.
The next option is a pretty obvious but often underused one: the box office of the theatre. This is a great option if you know for a fact that the show you want to see will not be sold out on a given night. Compared to online ticketing services such as Ticketmaster, the box office has lower overhead costs, will offer face value tickets without additional fees, and will have discounts and promotions made unavailable to you by third-party sellers. Additionally, by speaking to someone in-person, you will be better able to find a seat that will be within your price range (plus, they are more sympathetic to students). The only downsides to using the box office are that you have very few seating options and you have to go on the day of the show with no guarantee of getting a seat.
Next, the Theatre Development Fund membership (https://www.tdf.org/discount-ticket-programs/tdf-membership/) is a $40 yearly membership for students that offers substantial discounts to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway productions. The service’s tickets cost only $11-$57, and you can save up to 70%! If you see shows often, then this is definitely a good investment for you, as it can save you far more than $40. You are limited in how far before a show-date you can buy tickets, and you only have access to certain seats, but it is a fantastic deal and supports a good organization.
The next option is great for Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway theaters, as many of them have student programs to offer substantially cheaper tickets. For example, Playwright’s Horizons offers $10 student tickets to every show (https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/tickets-packages/discount-memberships/), Signature Theatre offers $20 student tickets to every show (https://signaturetheatre.org/shows-and-events/Memberships/Student-Memberships.aspx), and the Irish Repertory Theater offers $25 student tickets to every show (https://irishrep.org/box-office/greenseats/). These are just a few examples, but most off-broadway theaters have a comparable program, and you CANNOT beat these prices. There are limitations; you can usually only use your discount once per production and you may not be able to apply the discount to select seats, but this is consistently the best method for finding cheap theatre tickets.
The last option is one that I recently stumbled upon and is the only one on this list that offers FREE tickets. The Instagram account @stooping_theatre (https://www.instagram.com/stooping_theatre/) takes tickets from theatregoers who cannot attend the shows they bought tickets for, and it gives them away for free on their Instragram page. Now, this option obviously has the least consistency out of others on my list, but it also potentially offers the cheapest tickets. It’s pretty hard to beat free tickets.
Overall, while theatre in the city may seem expensive and inaccessible to us as students, there are always work-arounds that allow us to support the entertainment industry and ingest quality art in the process. I wish you all the best of luck in your theatre-going endeavors, hopefully they will be cheaper than they previously were!
Feature image via Wikipedia and Creative Commons