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State of the Arts Blog
Marianne Combs

Check out a theater for free

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Interested in seeing a show at a Minnesota theater, but worried it won't be worth the price of admission?

Well, now you have no excuses.

The Minnesota Theater Alliance has organized more than fifty theater companies across the state to offer free tickets for shows in the month of October, in what it's calling MN Free Night.

The only catch: you must be trying out a theater for the first time. So if you're in their database as having purchased tickets in the past, no deal.

Still, how many of us have actually been to fifty different theaters? There's sure to be something new for everyone.

While the majority of the theaters are - as you might expect - in the Twin Cities, there are also free performances to be found in Grand Rapids, Fergus Falls, Marshall, and Lanesboro.

Better act fast if you're interested - a quick check of the reservations site saw that many of the shows are already sold out... and reservations opened online only yesterday.

Addendum 13:05pm:

Just got off the phone with Minnesota Theater Alliance Program Director Leah Cooper, who added a few vital details.

1) The reason why so many shows have already been sold out is certain targeted groups were given a week to access tickets before the site was promoted to the general public. Those groups include people who are currently unemployed, recent college graduates and immigrants: i.e. people who probably don't have the means to attend theater regularly right now, but might be inclined to do so in the future if they had a positive experience (the goal of the project is to diversify theater audiences, after all).

2) Many theaters are staggering the release of their tickets to avoid what happened last year. What happened last year, you ask? Over 6,000 tickets were given away to Minnesotans in three hours, and the server to the website crashed. Whoops!

So in other words, keep checking the website throughout the month as more tickets become available.