Pay What You Can Night At The Kordazone Theatre.

By Alice Hewitt.

Many theatre lovers who cannot afford to pay for tickets say they appreciated Kordazone Theatre’s Pay-What-You-Can night Oct.18.

The event is designed to give Windsorites an opportunity to experience local theatre without paying the full regular ticketed price and is offered by Korda for the Thursday show of each production.

“It’s definitely a good idea,” said Kate Grimmell who attended the performance. “You are always going to have that crowd of people who want to attend a show but can’t afford to make it out.”

Drag 3, the final installment of the three part play series, is written and directed by Christopher Lawrence-Menard. Menard said Pay-What-You-Can nights were put in place to reach out to people who don’t always go to the theatre because they think it’s too pricey.

“It was important to us to find a way to reach out to people who don’t always go to the theatre because they think it is too pricey or because they have other pressures on their finances. We wanted to find a way to make sure students at the University of Windsor, St. Clair College, and area high schools could experience live theatre. When you can pay a little over $10 to see a movie that has been perfected by a Hollywood Studio, it’s hard to part with much more than that to see a live production where someone might miss a line, a lighting cue might go haywire, or there’s no guarantee you’ll love what you see,” said Menard. “We have found that our Thursday shows not only sell well, but also give us a chance to share what we do and what we love with folks who might not otherwise come out.”

Local actor Clinton Hammond has performed in all three Drag shows. He said the Pay-What-You-Can event is also encouraging for those who may not consider the theatre a night out.

“Other theatre groups in town have done, and do similiar things,” said Hammond. “A good idea once is a good idea many times.”

The Kordazone Theatre’s next Pay-What-You-Can night will be on Nov. 22 for the play Fat Boy directed by Jeff Marontate.