Watching live theatre is a notoriously expensive hobby, so how is the pretentious yet frugal student expected to maintain his/her artsy reputation? Well, let me count the ways.

1. Theatre Bay Area
If you want to see cheap theatre but you’re too much of a lazy bum to put in any work for it, then Theatre Bay Area might be a good place to start looking. On their website there is a comprehensive list of local theatre, ranging from school level to professional productions, at discounted prices as low as $5.00. In fact, there is a permanent page of half price tickets to a variety of shows. Once a year, TBA hosts an event called Free Night of Theatre in which a limited number of tickets to more than 100 performances are given away for free on a first come, first serve basis starting September 29th. Each person is allowed to reserve two free tickets to one show, but if you get a few friends together, the possibilities are limitless.

2. Volunteer at San Fransisco Fringe Festival
Many theatres offer programs where you can volunteer to usher a show in return for free admission. The annual SF Fringe gives you the best deal: if you usher (preferably for three shifts of three hours, but they’re pretty relaxed about that requirement), you get free tickets to any of the 39 shows playing over the two week period of the festival, as long as the show’s not sold out. Plus, you also get a free t-shirt and an unlimited supply of free pretzels, so what more could you ask for? Even if you don’t want to put the time in to volunteer, the shows are fairly inexpensive, usually ranging from $7-$10, all proceeds of which directly support the artists. This year’s fringe just ended, but sign up to be a volunteer for next year, and you will get an email when Fringe 2011 rolls around.

3. Volunteer Ushering
There are a number of theatres in the bay area that will accept volunteer ushering (usually checking tickets or handing out programs) in exchange for free entry to that night’s show. For example, The Marsh (SF), The Theatre Rhinoceros (SF), San Jose Stage, Berkeley Rep, Theatreworks (Palo Alto), New Consevatory Theatre Center (SF), Broadway By the Bay (San Mateo), and Bus Barn Stage Co. (Los Altos) all have ushering programs. Generally all that is required to sign up for volunteering is an emailed request. At some theatres volunteers are offered discount or free preview tickets even when they don’t volunteer to work. The one caveat with some theaters is that they require volunteers to be at least 18, but if you act responsibly you can sometimes get away with being younger.

4. Pay What You Can Nights
Both the Dragon Theatre and Pear Avenue Theatre offer pay-what-you-can nights on their opening Thursday preview show, which means anything from $1. In fact, they’ll probably let you in free if you ask nicely. The preview shows for Pear Avenue Theatre and the Dragon Theater have passed for their current shows, but check their website for future dates.

5. School Theatre
There are many schools in the local area that have high quality drama programs, and, predictably, these shows are usually friendlier to students then the average professional theatre. Stanford Drama is currently between shows, but has events which are often $5-$10 for students, and occasionally free. Foothill College does not have any shows on yet either, but usually has low priced or free productions as the year progresses. Both Gunn and Crystal Springs are known to have high quality productions for the high school level as well. You could even try M-A.

If you want more information on any of the theaters mentioned in the articles here are links to their websites:

http://matheatre.blogspot.com/

http://www.theatrebayarea.org/

http://www.tixbayarea.com/fnot_list.jsp

http://www.nctcsf.org/box_office.html  (new Conservatory Theater Center)

http://www.nctcsf.org/opportunities.html

http://www.busbarn.org/tickets.html

http://www.busbarn.org/donatetime.html

http://www.sffringe.org/

http://www.themarsh.org/contact.html

http://www.therhino.org/volunteers.html

http://www.sanjosestage.com/support.php#volunteer

http://www.theatreworks.org/about/employment/volunteers/

http://www.sanjosestage.com/support.php#volunteer

http://www.broadwaybythebay.org/support-bbbay/volunteers/

http://www.thepear.org/index.html

http://www.paplayers.org/

http://www.dragonproductions.net/

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/drama/index.html

http://www.foothill.edu/theatre/

http://www.gunntheatre.org/index.php

http://www.csus.org/podium/default.aspx?t=128474