Free Night of Theater

This October, more than 700 theaters in 130 cities across the country will be giving away more than 65,000 free tickets to live theatrical productions. The League of Charleston Theatres is joining up with Theatre Communications Group once again to participate in the Free Night of Theater 2010.

The Free Night of Theater is TCG's annual national audience development program designed to attract new patrons to live theater and give existing patrons access to venues they might not be familiar with. The League of Charleston Theatres' goal in participating in the Free Night is simple: to once again work together to remove the perceived barriers of time or money that may discourage audiences from attending the theater.

"We know there is a large group of people out there that think live theater is unaffordable, or that they won't understand it when they get there, or simply underestimate the level of quality professional productions Charleston has to offer," says Executive Director Emily Wilhoit. "We want to give those people an opportunity to try us risk-free and free of charge. We are absolutely thrilled to be participating in Free Night of Theater 2010 and once again join the ranks of major theater-producing cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles in opening our doors to the public."

This year's Free Night of Theater tickets will be available for performances throughout October and include the Actors' Theatre of South Carolina's "Mary Shelley and the Creature of Fire!", Deuce Theatre's "The Duncan Storm," the Footlight Players' "The Weir," a fall performance by Robert Ivey Ballet, South of Broadway's "Dirty Blonde" and The Village Playhouse's "The Marvelous Wonderettes."

Tickets for the Free Night of Theater will be available for reservation at noon Sept 30. All tickets must be reserved through the Free Night of Theater's online reservation system at www.freenightoftheater.net. Visit www.theatrecharleston.com.