Taking high schoolers to Broadway?

October 19, 2009 2:52 PM

How can I bring my low-income high school students to an off-Broadway show?

I teach creative writing at a public high school in NYC where most/all of the students are low-income. We're studying drama in creative writing, and I'd like to find a way to bring them to a real play-- maybe Our Town, or Broke-ology, or A Boy And His Soul. I'm wondering: are there programs for which my students would qualify? We obviously can't afford to pay full price for tickets. Do any shows have rehearsals we might simply be able to sit in on? Are there shows that allow students to attend special performances?

Does anyone have experience doing this? Thanks!

posted by airguitar2 to education (14 comments total)

I can't help with your actual question but I bet you could do really effective fundraising around this, online. I am guessing a lot of the NYC blogs would get behind you, as might MeFi Projects. How much do you need to raise?
posted by DarlingBri at 3:07 PM on October 19

You might want to check out the Donors Choose website. They let you post project requests and then specify the funding needed and people can fund it through donations. The web address is http://www.donorschoose.org/

One of the websites that I read often (www.tomatonation.com) does an annual funding drive through this website and I believe that the goal this year is $150,000
posted by Beautiful Downtown Burbank at 3:20 PM on October 19

Before buying tickets, you should contact producers to see if someone will give you tickets. I bet somebody would, or at least cut you a really good discount. Start with Ken Davenport.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:22 PM on October 19

At my high school (which wasn't low-income by any means, but hear me out) we were able to secure very inexpensive (less than $5 per ticket) seats at matinees at a theater in DC. I believe this was accomplished by the teacher calling the manager and explaining the situation. You should try doing that first: the manager will probably be willing to let you sit in on a dress rehearsal, matinee, or other non-prime-time production, depending on the theater.
posted by Electrius at 3:34 PM on October 19

Educators are eligible for Theatre Development Fund membership (a small annual fee for access to TDF discounts...which are as good as most other Broadway/Off-Broadway discounts you'll find).

Right now on TDF Broke-ology, Our Town, and A Boy and His Soul are only $24/ticket. Not super cheap, but cheaper.
posted by aswego at 3:37 PM on October 19

I second ThePinkSuperhero's suggestion of contacting individual producers. It may also be worth contacting individual non-profit theatres, some of which have educational programmes or student tickets.

You probably also want to look into High 5, which offers high school students $5 tickets to certain shows. You can search by genre on the website.
posted by sueinnyc at 3:49 PM on October 19

Sit tight, there's an organization that does this (at least I recall it being one of their programs); one of our donors is on the board but I don't have access to the database until tomorrow. This comment is my bookmark so I remember to get back to you!
posted by nax at 4:04 PM on October 19

Metafilter: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

DarlingBri: for full-price tickets, I've got 16 students plus two chaperones, at around $50/ticket. Plus, ideally, safe transportation home. So that's... $900 for tickets. And a to-be-determined transportation option.

Nax: Thanks-- I'll look for your update tomorrow.

High5 looks promising... I'll look into calling producers directly, too.
posted by airguitar2 at 4:39 PM on October 19

Sounds like you need a Target Field Trip Grant.
posted by aetg at 5:25 PM on October 19

I would write to the production management of the shows that you are interested in. They might offer group rates. Or take a shine to your group's story and find a way to work with you.
posted by theButterFly at 5:33 PM on October 19

All of these off Broadway shows, dance performances and music recitals are available for $5 to any teenager through High 5. And they can bring an adult for another $5.
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:59 PM on October 19

I have never solicited tickets for your exact situation, but I interned at a shelter for homeless families once, and I reached out to local organizations to get tickets for our kids. We got a lot of great donations - everything from museum passes to some Nickelodeon tour.

Moral of the story is: you never know what you're going to get until you ask for it!
posted by radioamy at 7:14 PM on October 19

These are all such great suggestions. Just on the off chance none of those work out, I think even with transportation and no donated tickets or discounts, that's a doable amount of money for online fund-raising, if you end up needing to go down that route. Let me know if you need help.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:48 PM on October 19

Call the producers first, (my Brooklyn public high school wasn't full of rich kids and we got to a Broadway matinee for English class once), but seconding both TDF and High 5. Both of those helped immensely when I was a poor high school and college student.

TDF also offers vouchers at volume discounts for schools and organizations. When I was in college, we could buy them for about $8 each and exchange those vouchers for a ticket to anything on a list of approved productions/theaters.
posted by cmgonzalez at 9:00 PM on October 19