Comments on: Free Night of Theater Roundup

By: Jerome Weeks

Jerome Weeks — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:38:06 +0000

Before these comments get out of hand: First, no one at OCA (or KERA) had any better access than anyone else. In other words, it was all on a first-come, first-serve basis. Second, the entire two floors of employees at OCA do not amount to 20 people. At the moment, Art & Seek amounts to three people (Anne Bothwell is on a well-deserved vacation). Together, even if everyone went online, all of us couldn't have gotten close to tying up 3,000 tickets. As my first story on Free Night of Theater indicated, in some towns, the tickets have been snatched up in 15 minutes. So finding in Dallas-Fort Worth that they're mostly gone in 30 minutes is not surprising. But as Greg McPherson of OCA has also pointed out, extra tickets may become available (go here to sign up). And there's always next year. This first try was pretty clearly a success.

By: Ande

Ande — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:07:45 +0000

I hope that people were limited to 2 tickets each as it wouldn't be fair if that office or only a few people got the tickets. It would not be in line w/the idea behind the free tickets, i.e. exposing people to the arts who might not otherwise go.

By: Avalon

Avalon — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:18:52 +0000

Wow–I went to try for tickets at 12:30 and there were only two options not sold out (that have since sold out), neither of which were on a night when I could go. A lady at the Office of Cultural Affairs told me that "everyone there" was ready at noon on the dot, and they all got their tickets. Well, that office IS paying for them, so I guess they may as well use them. Too bad for folks who couldn't be online at noon.

I'm going to go anyway to one of the ones I wanted to get; I suspect that there may be a number of folks who get free tickets but don't show up.