Papering services—companies offering inexpensive (or free) theatre tickets and word-of-mouth advertising for productions needing bodies in seats—are growing in number. Many charge yearly membership fees, but here is the question: Can you really see Broadway productions for under $100 a year? Two established "seat-filling" organizations, Play by Play and Audience Extras, and one new venture, Theater Extras, may have the answer.
Subscribers to these services are permitted up to two tickets per performance, based on seating availability. While most tickets are for Off- and Off-Off-Broadway shows, seats for Broadway shows are not impossible to find. It's all left to the discretion of producers, who may give away "comps" when shows are in previews, underpublicized, or expecting reviewers or celebrities in the house.
Play by Play offers yearlong memberships for $99 (plus tax). The cost for each ticket is $3, payable by credit card, check, or cash. Visit www.play-by-play.com or call (212) 868-7052 for more information.
At $115 a year—including a $30 reserve fund to pay for tickets—Audience Extras donates a portion of its service charge to the John-Vincent Peter Copani Memorial Foundation for the Arts' AMGA program, which funds not-for-profit performing arts organizations. Visit www.audienceextras.com or call (212) 686-1966 for more information.
Finally, Theater Extras is a new papering service founded just last month. While the membership rate is set, like Play by Play, at $99 a year (though with a $4 per-ticket fee), the introductory rate, good through March 31, is $79 a year. Those joining between Mon., Feb. 9 and Sun., Feb. 15, however, pay only $39.50 a year, and on Valentine's Day, all revenues will be donated to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Also, a percentage of overall company revenues will go to a yearly scholarship for a student at the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
Contact (212) 802-7277 or visit www.theaterextras.com for more information.