Signature's Angels in America Website- Page 5

[angelplays]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:10pm

hermionejuliet - I've seen it suggested on ATC, and likely will do this, to contact them in a few days when things have died down and ask for an emailed confirmation. I'm planning on doing that since as has been pointed out, a printout of the bank statement doesn't say WHEN the tickets were for.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:14pm

I'm sorry but all this whining is ridiculous.

You didn't get 20 dollar tickets: poor you. The fact of the matter is that, whether you want to see a show or not, you just may not have the chance! Sorry if you live in NJ and find that you can't/won't spend 30 bucks to come over on the PATH (and is it *really* 30, BTW?), and wait for tickets.*

If you really wanted to get in...you STILL CAN. Listen, I get how we don't all have the means to drop 80 bucks for a single show, but if you really wanted to see the play, I can't imagine it would be impossible for you to make it happen. Simple solution: just miss a few shows you might otherwise have seen.

*Sorry if this comment was directed toward you, Perfectliar. These statements could have been made to any number of people on this thread.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:14pm

Good idea! To be honest, I think I know when my tickets are... but it is hard to focus with an impatient line of people behind you! And I didn't have the forethought to write it down or circle it immediately.

[angelplays]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:19pm

Yeah, I know what you mean. I was trying to focus on the paper showing availability and make sense of it, and yet also trying not to take too much time because of the long line. I wrote it down, but it was definitely an interesting experience.

[matty159]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:22pm

Agreed. I even felt myself choosing dates rather haphazardly. By the time the transaction was complete, I had to get the girl to repeat everything back to me. I have to wonder too if the schedule could have been arranged a little better...it just seemed so odd that for the most part, everyone waiting for single tickets today ended up with having to see Part 2 first. I realize that if you wanted to step out of the $20 seats, you could have seen them in order, but that the original run turned out like that struck me as strange.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:22pm

Play Esq. I don't know about others, but I do know about myself. I REALLY wanted to see this show. I was unable to secure a subscription, and I did make it happen by paying full price. Should I have? Probably not. I don't think that is in anyone's budget!

What I'm not happy about is the organization and planning related to the ticket sales. They were advertising the heck out of these tickets, but they didn't have the power of a server or phone bank, or personnel to take care of it appropriately. I'm talking about people who would pay full price if they could have not people wanting $20 tickets (the availability of which is a whole other story!)

If you did anything else for that price, you'd probably want to be treated well...right? I wouldn't wait for 3 hours for a dinner that price or purchase a plane ticket for that price and not expect a receipt or boarding pass.

That's the simple matter of it.

[angelplays]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 7:38pm

What hermionejuliet said! I made the choice to pay full-price for my tickets in January. I don't blame Signature for that in any way. I wanted to see the plays in order, and that was the only way I could make it work.

While my experience inside at the table was fine, and the girl was doing her best to help me (even offering suggestions of the few cases in the initial run where I could have seen part 1 followed closely by part 2 - though that was the one weekend I wasn't able to do it), there are so many other ways they could have improved the whole experience.

Example: I get that it would have been way too much work to cross out the already sold out dates on the schedules they were handing out, but a few white boards with the text only highlighted schedules posted on them (like what they had on the table) outside on the line could have helped people to have an idea what they might be looking at. Like tkts - you see what's available when you're in line and have a couple of alternates.

Also, even an email with the order would have been nice and reassuring, especially for those who paid cash.

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 8:24pm

"I fear that they have already left a bad taste in many people's mouths with their subscriptions flying off the shelf before one can purchase, the lack of $20 tickets in the early hours, the failure of their phone and web system, and the 3 hour wait outside..."

You blame Signature because there is high demand for this production? Everyone else wants to see this just as much as you do. Just because they didn't set some tickets aside for you doesn't make them a bad company. You knew this was a small theatre. You knew there was high demand. You have to do some of the work.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 8:30pm

Sorry if you live in NJ and find that you can't/won't spend 30 bucks to come over on the PATH (and is it *really* 30, BTW?), and wait for tickets.*

I assume someone who has to spend $30 to come from NJ is not taking the PATH.


I've never seen anything at Signature, was hoping to get tickets to this, but will probably either try the cancellation line, see the play out of order (and spend the $85 on tickets) or just not see the show. It's a shame if I have to miss it, but it's certainly not the end of the world.

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 8:53pm

Play Esq., NJ Transit prices were recently raised and it is now $30 to go from my stop to Penn.

Also, I really really wish I could afford to spend $170 to be guaranteed a ticket to see this, but I can't. I'm a full time student working a part time seasonal job this summer (because that was all I could get), and $170 is almost a full paycheck for me and I'm sure many other people, and any way you slice it it's a lot of money. I personally wasn't trying to be whiny when I posted in this thread, just disappointed, as I'm sure most other people were.

When I was in high school and had to take NJ Transit whenever I wanted to come to the city, I always made sure to have a bunch of backup plans...$20 (as the price of a train ticket was then) plus a ticket to a show plus a meal is a lot of money when your full time job is school, and I know when I was doing it I never wanted to go home without seeing *something* if that was my plan for the day, so I don't blame anyone for being a little iffy on spending that amount of money for something that is indefinite.

[walkedthroughmany]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:03pm

Signature already does so much to help keep theatre affordable. For anyone who doesn't understand why they are able to offer $20 tickets in the first place, please read this:

http://www.signaturetheatre.org/tixini.htm

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:20pm

"You blame Signature because there is high demand for this production? Everyone else wants to see this just as much as you do. Just because they didn't set some tickets aside for you doesn't make them a bad company. You knew this was a small theatre. You knew there was high demand. You have to do some of the work."

Nope! Not at all - high demand for a two part Kushner non musical play makes my heart sing. I think he is a genius and this work deserves all the recognition and hopefully it'll transfer for another Broadway run (or keep extending!). And I've bought plenty of stubhub/ebay overpriced tickets and missed out on things I really want to see to know I'm not entitled to anything. I'm happy and grateful to have full price tickets.

I'm just saying if you are a growing theatre you might want to please as many of your patrons as possible-- subscribers or non... first in line or last... online or on the phone-- with the WAY things are being done....Especially the ones ready to jump when tickets go on sale to something. They are a good crowd to keep happy!

I've been to plenty of high demand events and it is ALL about the process which leaves the impression...I've been plenty happy with my 3 hour wait standby tickets or my StubHub tickets to concerts or understanding when I miss out fair and square (often hence the visit to stub hub--- it is even better when there are absolutely NO tickets when the event goes on sale!), but a fine tuned process, honest communication and a visible of plan in action is the key!

Or perhaps, I'm have OCD with organization.

Updated On: 8/3/10 at 09:20 PM

[angelplays]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:28pm

"You blame Signature because there is high demand for this production? Everyone else wants to see this just as much as you do. Just because they didn't set some tickets aside for you doesn't make them a bad company. You knew this was a small theatre. You knew there was high demand. You have to do some of the work."

I wasn't the poster on this, but I can say I don't blame them for the high demand, but I do hold them responsible for not being better prepared. The whole subscription thing should have clued them into how much interest there was in the production, and there should have been a game plan in place for today. I've already mentioned some of the ways things could have been smoother this morning, and I stand by those.

I'm thrilled that they HAVE had the ability to make $20 ticket available. While I would have loved to be able to get those tickets and see the plays in order, I was fortunate enough to be able to afford tickets for the extension. It will mean small sacrifices here and there for a week or so, but for me it's worth it to support theatre like this and to be able to experience these plays.

My only quibbles are with the apparent lack of preparation based on what they had to know was huge interest.

[hermionejuliet]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:35pm

Thanks Angel! Theatre for an affordable price for groups of people that are not regular theatre goers or are on a budget are of course a fantastic thing! I am all for that... but people DO that in an orderly way on a daily basis. TKTS, rush and lotto, TDF, cheap balcony seats...in big and small theatres.

I have no way of knowing that they actually sold a large chunk of tickets for $20... I hope and assumed they did. I heard rumblings that it was a tough go from the start. I was too far back to know what is what.

That's not the issue... A better plan to distribute tickets $20 AND/OR $85 should have been in place!

[angelplays]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 9:41pm

You're welcome! I totally agree about making theatre affordable, especially for those who might not otherwise be exposed to the art form!!

I was 10th or 11th in, and by then the earliest highlighted part 1 had already been crossed out. There was availability for part 2 early on. The part 1 availability started sometime in November, but was sporadic. And then it was hard to match up a part 2 any time close. So there really was pretty limited availability from the get-go, especially if you wanted to see both and preferably in order.

[jimmycurry01]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 1:09am

Some people here seem to forget that this is a small theatre with limited resources. They happened to have two plays in high demand this time, and I am sure they had an idea of how big this was. Just because they have something in high demand does not mean they magically have the money to put into more bandwidth or human resources. They charge $20 per ticket and have to put on a play and pay for it, sure they get help from various grants, but this is all very expensive stuff, and ordinarily there current staff and bandwidth is perfectly acceptable. If you were running a business, would you really sink the cash into hiring more people and paying for more bandwidth when you will only use the resources for two weeks? Really?
Some of this moaning and complaining has more emotion than actual thought and logic behind it.