Albuquerque Theatre Guild Presents 'Free Night of Theatre,' 10/1-11/30

The Albuquerque Theatre Guild has announced Albuquerque's inaugural Free Night of Theatre, to be held from October 1 through November 30, 2012. Free Night of Theatre offers theatergoers a chance to win free tickets to participating ATG member theatres with productions during the giveaway period. Albuquerque is one of many communities across the country participating in the event, which campaigns to attract new audiences to live theatrical performances.

Theatergoers who sign up at the website www.FreeNight.abqtheatre.org beginning Saturday, September 1, through Sunday, September 30, 2012 are entered in a ticket lottery. The lottery can only be entered online, and not everyone who enters will win free tickets. Patrons are strongly encouraged to consider a theatre they have never attended, as that will increase their chances of winning free tickets. Tickets from participating theatres are for performances in October and November 2012.

"We are ecstatic that Albuquerque will join the other national communities offering rich and diverse live theatre opportunities to our citizens free of charge," says Hugh Witemeyer, President of the Albuquerque Theatre Guild. "Free Night is the perfect opportunity for Albuquerque to celebrate and build upon the contributions the theatre community has made to our cultural landscape. Virtually all ATG member theatres with productions in October and November are participating in the program."

The Free Night of Theatre program provides the theatre community a unique opportunity to open its doors to hundreds of new theatergoers and introduce that audience to the joys of live theatre. The program has proven to be successful in bringing in non-traditional theatre audiences to theatres from coast to coast.

Free Night of Theatre was conceived at Theatre Communication's Group's National Conference in 2003 as a way to remove perceived barriers that have historically prevented audiences from attending not-for-profit theatre. The program was piloted in 2005 in three cities: Philadelphia, San Francisco and Austin. That year over 150 theatre companies welcomed nearly 8,000 theatergoers of which an estimated 80 percent were attending the theatre for the first time. In 2011, there were 398 participating arts organizations (overwhelmingly theatres, but in some regions literature, film, music, visual arts, opera and dance organizations also participated). Nationwide 55, 570 tickets were distributed for 1,886 performances of 555 separate events.

For more information on Albuquerque's Free Night of Theatre, visit www.FreeNight.abqtheatre.org. Information is also available through the ATG website at www.abqtheatre.org.