The ArtsCenter to Provide Free Tickets to Theatre Events

In order to expand access to the arts in our community, ArtsCenter Stage is undertaking a new admissions policy spurred by a Minneapolis’ based theater company’s idea of radical hospitality. Akin to pay-what-you-can nights or student rush tickets, radical hospitality takes theater admission to another area: offering tickets to people for free. ArtsCenter Stage will be offering no-cost access to all main-stage productions during its 2014-15 season.

“We were inspired by Mixed Blood Theatre, in Minneapolis, which in 2011 began offering free tickets to all of its shows,” explains Jeri Lynn Schulke, Artistic Director of ArtsCenter Stage.  “The ArtsCenter wants to serve our community better. If one of the barriers to people venturing out to see one of our shows is the price of the ticket, we’re eliminating that as a barrier. As a testing period, we’re offering ten free tickets to every show beginning with this July’s ’10 By 10′ production.”

Going forward, community members will enjoy two ways to see an ArtsCenter Stage performance:
1)    First come, first served, no-cost admission: ArtsCenter Stage holds ten seats for no-cost admission on a first come, first served basis for each performance. To access these seats, patrons must provide their contact information in person at the box office (up to 2 hours prior to show time).  Seating begins 30 minutes before show time and is open (no assigned seats).

2)    Guaranteed admission: Audience members who want to guarantee entry can purchase tickets online, by calling the box office at (919) 929-2787 or by visiting The ArtsCenter box office. Seating begins 30 minutes before show time and is open (no assigned seats).

ArtsCenter Stage’s no cost access will be start with its 13th Annual 10 By 10 in the Triangle festival of new plays running July 11-27.

Mixed Blood Theater was inspired by the 2002 book by Father Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt Radical Hospitality: Benedict’s Way of Love.  Jack Reuler, Mixed Blood’s Artistic Director, stated: When we speak of hospitality we are always addressing issues of inclusion and exclusion. Each of us makes choices about who will and who will not be included in our lives…. Hospitality has an inescapable moral dimension to it…. All of our talk about hospitable openness doesn’t mean anything as long as some people continue to be tossed aside.… Hospitality is the answer to modern alienation and injustice.

The word hospitality has its origin in the Latin word hospitalia which was a place where strangers and pilgrims were received and cared for; it’s less of a medical facility and more of an apartment for strangers and guests. Hospitality today means generous, caring, sustaining. Hospitality has its origins in a spiritual movement.  The monasteries of St. Benedict still use a book of rules to live by created by St. Benedict called The Rule of Benedict. The foundation of the rule is listening. “Listen with the ear of your heart,” Benedict writes.

“What we’re hoping is to change not only the make-up of our audiences but also the dynamic of the theater going experience, says Schulke about ArtsCenter Stage. “We’re hoping to attract new audiences who live right in our community and who may never enter our space. We want to build our audience to include members of our community who are historically underserved by the arts; we also want to eliminate barriers to participation and increase the number of people participating in the arts in our community.

For More Information: Adam Graetz, Marketing Director