They line up like clockwork between Times Square’s Red Steps and Seventh Avenue, hoping to land deeply discounted tickets to that day’s Broadway or Off-Broadway show.
They wait to get to the front of the TKTS line, to see what shows are available.
TKTS is just one way that the Theater Development Fund (or TDF, at tdf.org) puts Broadway within reach, with up to 50% off same-day shows.
Deeper discounts are open to some
Nella Vera, TDF’s vice president of marketing and communications, said a TDF membership offers an even deeper discount.
“You can get tickets for Broadway up to 70% off,” Vera said. “A Broadway ticket will never be more than $63. We have about 108,000 New Yorkers partake in that.”
Not everyone is eligible for TDF membership.
“If you are in a union, you can join, if you’re an hourly wage employee, you can join. If you’re a schoolteacher, or a first responder, if you’re a freelancer you can join,” Vera said. “You can’t join if you’re like a corporate lawyer, that’s not going to happen. Obviously we don’t want to sell discounted tickets to people who can afford them.”
Does $22 sound better?
If you’re a New York City high school senior, the deal gets even sweeter through TDF’s Graduation Gift program.
“You can sign up for a free special TDF membership and, for Graduation Gift members, tickets are never more than $22,” Vera said.
But it gets even sweeter.
“In May, we do one night to celebrate graduation and everybody goes to see one show, all the graduating seniors,” Vera said. “We say it’s a lottery but we’ve never not gotten everybody in.”
This year, everyone saw “Cats: The Jellicle Ball.” Last year, it was “Six.” The year before that, it was “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Vera said the program lasts far beyond graduation day.
“It’s unofficial, but basically you can keep buying $22 tickets for four years,” she said. “It’s really nice. The kids come with their parents and their grandparents.”
Access is everything
TDF doesn’t put the shows on, it makes getting to see shows easier.
But it’s more than just offering cheap tickets. It’s about making sure that everyone has a reason and the means to be in a theater if they want to.
Vera said she figures out why people aren’t coming to the theater and then tries to work around that. There are all kinds of barriers between some people and a seat in a Broadway theater, she said.
“Some of them are financial, some of them physical issues, and some of them are invisible factors that we try to address,” she said. “Maybe they don’t have a tradition, their parents never took them, or they live far away from the city in areas that don’t have a subway. Or they live in communities that have never come to the theater.”
Sometimes it could be even simpler.
“They don’t know how to get a ticket,” Vera said.
Making access happen for all
For TDF, accessibility is the main priority. They want everyone to be able to enjoy the theater.
“When you go on Broadway and you see a performance that’s like open captioned or ASL interpreted, or it’s an autism-friendly performance, that’s usually us,” Vera said. “We’ve made that happen.”
TDF also works hard to open doors to younger audiences.
Vera said TDF’s Wendy Wasserstein Project gives students the opportunity to see theater and then discuss it with experienced mentors who are involved in the theater industry.
“Sometimes I see a show and I don’t know what I think about it,” Vera said. “You have to process and you have to find the words. The Wendy Wasserstein Project helps the young people learn how to express what they’re feeling and guide them through being able to find a language.”
TDF, at a school near you
TDF also works to bring theater education to schools.
“We teach the teachers how to talk about theater and drama and all of that,” Vera said.
TDF’s work can also be seen on school stages.
It rents out its Costume Collection to schools and non-profit film, television, digital media, art, dance, theatre and cultural productions.
“We recycle them, basically,” Vera said. “Our prices are a lot lower than commercial rental houses.”
For schools wanting to put on a show, this could mean one or two costumes or helping out with the entire production.
“You give them all the sizes, you say there’s ten kids and ten adults, send all the sizes, and our costume designers will put together the whole show for you,” Vera said.
Some pieces are not rented, though.
“We have some of the original costumes from “Rent” that the cast wore in the original production,”Vera said. “We have some of the “Wicked” costumes from the original company.”
Making the connection
“I really believe that my mission is to bring people to the theater,” Vera said.
She remembered the first Broadway show she saw with her mother, who was from Peru and spoke no English.
“It was ‘Cats,’ so you didn’t have to speak English. It’s just a bunch of cats singing and dancing,” Vera said with a smile. “I remember when the guy who played Rum Tum Tugger, Terry Mann, came and sat on my mother’s lap. And I was like, ‘This is amazing.’ My mother loved it and she was like, ‘I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.’”
Not everyone will have an oversized cat in their laps, but that connection, that breaking down of walls, was electric, Vera said.
“I want everybody to have that feeling, that sense that you forget your life, that you are completely absorbed in somebody else’s story,” she said. “It creates empathy and makes you look at the world in a different way. I think everybody should have that.”
Khloe JeanBart is a senior at Park Slope Collegiate in Brooklyn.
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