Big discounts on tickets -- and more flexibility in picking out which shows to see -- await faculty and staff who take advantage of the Yale Repertory Theatre's new membership package, available exclusively to University employees.
Designed to encourage members of the Yale community to "take ownership" of the award-winning theater, the new package allows faculty and staff to pay an annual membership fee of $25; in turn, members pay only $10 for tickets to any production at the Yale Rep and the School of Drama for one full year, with as many as 12 events from which to choose. Up to four memberships per household may be purchased.
Local retailers and restaurants are adding to the value of the package by offering special discounts each time a member buys a theater ticket. For example, members will become eligible for a two-for-one entree offer at Scoozzi Trattoria & Wine Bar when they buy a ticket for the Rep's first production of the 1997-98 season, the world premiere of "Geography."
"We'd like to make attending the Rep as easy as possible for members of the University community," said managing director Victoria Nolan. "Our Student Passbook option is one of the most popular student theater packages in the country. It's flexible, low priced and easy to use. With this new membership, we're making it just as easy for Yale's faculty and staff as it is for our students."
"Geography," which was conceived and is directed by renowned choreographer Ralph Lemon, will open on Thursday,
Oct. 23. The production explores those areas where American and West African cultures clash and where they unite, and will feature some of the world's most acclaimed musicians, dancers, poets and theater artists. The show runs through Nov. 8.
The other shows in this year's six-play season and the dates they run are: "Candida" by George Bernard Shaw, Nov. 28-Dec. 20; "Splash Hatch on the E Going Down" by
Kia Corthron, Jan. 15-Feb. 7; Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (a School of Drama special project production), Feb. 19-March 14; "The Cure at Troy," an adaptation of Sophocles' "Philoctetes" by Seamus Heaney, March 26-April 18; and the world premiere of "Petersburg," adapted for the stage by C.B. Coleman from Andrei Bely's novel, April 30-May 23.
For more information or to purchase memberships, student passbooks or any other subscription packages, call the Yale Rep box office at 432-1234.