Chicago has an amazing theatre community with more theatres than any other city in the world. (Suck it, NYC.) Here are some ways to see some shows for free or cheap.
Free:
- If you usher at Steppenwolf, you get to see the shows for free.
- If you usher at Goodman, you get to see the shows for free.
- All productions of the Shakespeare Project of Chicago are free.
- The easiest (and shadiest) is befriend the actors and crew. Many are able to provide comp tickets. Seriously ask. They want you to bring people to the shows and they are willing to give a free ticket if they know you’re going to bring other paying customers.
For discounted tickets:
- Check the League of Chicago Theatres’ HotTix program. Typically half off of all tickets listed on the site. Go to the actual outlet to avoid TicketMaster’s fees.
- Speaking of Ticketmaster, if you go to their Deals page and use the code tmdeal, all the tickets listed there are typically half off.
- Check the listings on Goldstar. Most of the tickets are half off as well for listed performances.
- The Neo-Futurists’ (in)famous Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind is always $9 + the roll of a single six-sided die ($10 - $15). Also, in celebrating their 20th anniversary, the first Sunday of each month, it costs the roll of the die ($1 - $6.)
- The Chicago Dramatists have staged readings of plays-in-progress for $5 on Saturdays.
- The Actors Gymnasium typically has performances involving circus performers. Always amazing and $10.
- Theatre Oobleck’s current production, “An Apology for the Course & Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening” is listed as $12, more if you’ve got it, free if you’re broke.
- For $50 you can get the Rogers Park Flex Pass. It allows you to get one ticket at four Rogers Park Area theatres (Lifeline, Raven, the sideproject, and Theo Ubique) and receive discounts at Rogers Park restaurants.
- At University of Chicago’s University Theatre, all performances are either $4 or $6.
For discounted student tickets:
(Note: All of the discounts for students listed here are included because they are a substantial discount. Almost all of the theatres have some sort of discount for students with ID or are just affordable to begin with. Check individual theatres if they are not listed here.)
- At Steppenwolf, if you come an hour before curtain, all unsold tickets are $15 with a student ID.
- At Goodman, starting at 10am online or 12noon at the box office, any unsold mezzanine seats are $10 with a student ID.
- At the Lyric Opera of Chicago, if you register as a “NExT Student” on their website, the Lyric Opera will inform you by email when they have tickets available for upcoming shows. All tickets are $20 and sign-up is free.
- At the Auditorium Theatre at Roosevelt University, one hour before curtain on any production, student rush tickets are typically available. It depends on the production and you must have a student ID. Go to the website to find out how to sign up for their newsletter that will tell you what productions will have student rush tickets.
- Blue Man Group has half off ($32) tickets one hour before show start with a student ID.
- At the Chicago Children’s Theatre, all Saturday matinee shows are half off for students.
- At the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago, UC students are able to purchase $10 tickets to any performance. All other students, of any age, are able to purchase tickets at a 25% discount to any performance, except Saturday evenings and Sunday matinees.
- At the Lifeline Theatre, all tickets are half off ($15) for students with ID for all performances.
- At the Next Theatre Company, all tickets are half off for students with ID or anyone under 26 years old.
- At Northwestern University, all theatre performances are $10 for full-time students with ID.
- At Remy Bumppo Theatre, student rush tickets are available for $10 the day of the performance with ID. Contact the theatre to make sure tickets are still available.
- The Viaduct Theatre, depending on the performance, has different student prices typically all low.
September 24, 2009, 8:27pm Comments
