I admire those who are trying to look out for the industry, and I do agree that if you have the means, and if a show means a lot to you, it's definitely very nice of you to pay it forward. I admire that choice, but everyone has to make their own decision based on their own financial situation, and also gauging how much each experience is worth to you.
I'm on a relatively limited income, but theatre is important to me, so I set aside a monthly budget of about $300 for all the shows I see that month. Some months I go a little bit over, some months I come a little bit under, but for the most part I have to roughly stick to that number if I don't want to break the bank.
But of course, $300 is not enough to pay for all the shows I'd like to see - not even if I only paid rush/30u30 prices. So yes, I make use of papered tickets where I can get them. I personally don't feel bad about it because if I didn't buy papered tickets, I'd have no choice but to see fewer shows. So they can either have me in their seat, or not. UncleCharlie, there are many, many things in this life that I'd be happy to do for free, but that don't mean enough to me to pay for. That's a very normal thing.
I got a papered ticket to Paradise Square because I could, and because the show didn't mean very much to me. I don't regret seeing the show, but neither do I regret choosing not pay for it. There's a very wide spectrum between those two things.
And since my theatre budget is the same either way, the papered ticket saved me money to spend at another show/theatre - very likely a non-profit, since I go to way more non-profit shows than commercial, and I consider that a better use of my money anyway. And either way you slice it, roughly $3600 of my hard-earned money is going into the live theatre industry every year. That may not sound like much to some, but it's a lot for me.
So, while I do agree people should pay for as much theatre as they can, I personally don't feel remotely bad about making use of papering services, because I already AM paying for as much theatre as a can.
Updated On: 6/20/22 at 04:09 PM