An Other Theater Company Increases Access with Play-it-Forward Program

Starting immediately, An Other Theater Company, a company known for bringing bold works outside of the typical Utah Valley fare such as Angels in America and the upcoming The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, will be unrolling their new "Play-it-Forward" program which will provide a limited number of tickets to each performance completely free of charge, covered by the company's own subsidization as well as the generosity of paying patrons.

"We feel like the arts are important to everyone. They speak to us on a human level and help us come together as a society to explore the human condition and expand our empathy," says artistic director Kacey Spadafora who co-founded the company with fellow artistic director Taylor Jack Nelson. "We don't think that these experiences and those stories should be behind a paywall for only those who are able to afford it. Theater and other forms of art have become a luxury, and we want to do our part to change that."

Here's how it works: Each performance of each of the company's shows will have, at minimum, 2 tickets available completely free of charge to those who cannot afford to buy a ticket. To add to the availability, any patron who purchases a ticket online will have the option to provide, at a subsidized rate of $5 each, free tickets to any performance of that production for a stranger who may need it. Any patron may also go online and purchase Play-it-Forward tickets (available under any showtime) without buying any tickets for themselves, if they so desire. These tickets go into a pool of available Play-it-Forward tickets.

Any patron who is unable to purchase a ticket can email the company to request a Play-it-Forward ticket for a specific performance. If there are free tickets still available, they will have a ticket set up in their name under their email address for that performance, no questions asked. If there is a surplus of free tickets that go unused, the company will absorb the revenue gained from the generosity of paying patrons and use the money to help continue to subsidize free tickets for future productions.

More details can be found on the company's website at AnOtherTheater.org

An Other Theater is currently running The Drag, Mae West's infamous play on homosexuality that premiered in the 1920s that saw its entire cast arrested upon opening night for indecency. The play runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm through August 18th with one 2:00pm matinee August 11th in their blackbox theater in the Provo Towne Centre.

About An Other Theater Company:

An Other Theater Company seeks to provide a voice to many who are overlooked in the mainstream local theatre scene, including stipulations in its season selection process to highlight works by and about women as well as the LGBT community.

To post a comment, you must register and login.