Free Shakespeare In The Park Tickets For A Price

Got a hankering for some Shakespeare, but short on time?

Well a group of crafty (and patient) entrepreneurs are willing to wait on the hours-long line for this season's Shakespeare in the Park show for you, but for a price.

It'll cost you between $75 and $125 to cool your feet while other theater patrons queue up, money some would say is well spent. Especially to Al Pacino's "Merchant of Venice", which opens today.

From the Daily News:

Organizers of the Central Park series are complaining that selling free tickets goes against the spirit of the annual event and they're now threatening to ban offenders.

The cops, who have in recent months ratcheted up the rules against ticket scalping, describe these seat-sellers "as unlicensed general vendors and may be subject to summons or arrest." But, they allow, this pay-for-play is still very difficult to enforce and a gray area, with no investigations or arrests on record.

So unlike most nefarious Shakespeare characters, you'll probably get away with this scot free.

Comments

[Steph Fox]

12:09 AM on 07/07/2010

Last week, while sitting next to these so called "entrepreneurs" for about 13 hours last week while waiting online for Merchant of Venice, I tried to come up with a few solutions to this problems. And yes it is a problem, these people are ruining it for the rest of us. They wait online multiple times a week and take the tickets that would otherwise go to the other people waiting online. The Public theater could keep track of the names of the people who are receive the ticket. Because each person is allowed to take two tickets, the two ticket holders would need to come to the theater together and the person who waited online would show id.
The staff member know who these people are and try to kick them out of the line for technicalities like leaving the line.
Something truly needs to be done. I did not feel safe sitting next to people who appeared to be homeless.

[ReasonableGuy]

12:22 AM on 06/21/2010

The Public puts on the plays. The Public is free to distribute tickets in whatever way it wishes, so long as it breaks no laws. If it wants to distribute tickets free, to those who are willing to wait on line for seven hours it can do so. If it wants to distribute some tickets to supporters who will pony up the $350 or so support, it can do so. If it wants to prohibit people who wait from reselling tickets, it can do so . . . contractually. So a term of the free ticket can be that you agree to not resell it. Break the terms of the agreement, and the Public can void the ticket.
Getting the Attorney General involved, however, is troublesome.

My suggestion, they should just photograph each line sitter. If the line sitter doesn't show up, void the ticket. Or perhaps only if the line sitter doesn't show up a second time. Kind of big brother, but if they want a bunch of tickets to go out to people who are willing to wait in line . . .

p.s. I waited 7 hours for tickets to Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino a few days ago. Totally worth it, even though it meant using up 1/2 of a day of my vacation. 7 hours in which I sat in a rented folding chair, and read a book. A nice morning.

[MargieGee]

10:02 PM on 06/15/2010

Please excuse the typos in the previous post. My point was that anyone who wants tickets and is unable to wait online for them can -- in a free country -- utilize the services of someone else (for a fee) in order to get the tickets for them. Who the eff is the Public Theater or AG-hope-he-NEVER-gets-to-be-GOVERNOR Andrew Cuomo to dictate to New Yorkers how they should go about handling their personal affairs? He threatened Craigslist and Ebay and they caved in. I hope the NYCLU gets involved in this.

[MargieGee]

09:45 PM on 06/15/2010

NY AG's tactics were very heavy-handed, and I think probably motivated by racism. If you've ever been to a Shakespeare in the Park production, you will see that 99% of the audience is of a white. The claim that he was protecting New Yorkers who want tickets was b.s.

You will notice that one of the posters plugged the Public's website for tickets for summer supporters at 350.00 for a pair. You can still find the "line mules". In fact, I found one on Wordpress at www.shakespeareintheparknyc2010.wordpress.com. If you need a "ticket mule" you can start at that website. I saw Al Pacino's performance in the Merchant of Venice and it is NOT to be missed. You will be riveted to your seat ....

[kynycmbp]

04:00 PM on 06/09/2010

Not fair. I don't like line cheaters. And believe me, we New Yorkers have no compunction about turning them in. Do this at your peril. If any of the fellow people in line find out, we will report the person to the Public Theatre staff, who will eject the ticket mule from the line. They have a "when in doubt, throw them out" policy, so ticket mules will not win on this.

If you are too busy to sit for tickets, you should spend the money on a Public Theatre Summer Supporter Program and get a free ticket that way.

Rather than support people who are abusing a New York institution, support the institution. Here is the website link.

http://www.publictheater.org/content/view/127/222/

[MargieGee]

10:06 PM on 06/15/2010

Who are you to tell people how they should spend their money? It is rather condescending of you.

You put a link up to the Public and I put one up to the "ticket mules" as you describe them.
www.shakespeareintheparknyc2010.wordpress.com. You conveniently did not mention that the summer supporter tickets go for 350.00. So, what the Public really wanted was to be paid for the tickets rather than have New Yorkers choose for themselves how they should go about getting tickets to the productions. It's because the Public wants the money right? Try to kill the competition by getting the NY AG involved. How's that working out for you all?

[kynycmbp]

11:50 PM on 06/15/2010

First, Joseph Papp established Shakespeare in the Park as a way to bring great theatre to the working people of New York for free. Tickets are available on a first-come, first serve basis. All anyone has to do is wait in line. Pretty egalitarian.

Second, the $350 supporter fee offered as an option for those that are too busy to wait for their own tickets actally supports The Public Theatre's free productions as well as the many programs to support and encourage young playwrites.

Ticket mules allow those with money enough to hire someone take tickets that would have gone to others who were willing to either play by the theater's rules. Unlike the money that is spent on the supporter tickets, the ticket mule purchases go into the ticket mule's pocket and doesn't help or support the theater--if anything it takes money away from it. It's not about financial competition; it's about support for theater.

I am guessing that you are in some way connected to the ticket mules, so justify it any way you want, but this is wrong and unfair to others who really believe in and support The Public Theater. I don't care how others spend their money, but if one of your lot are in line when I am, and I find out, I will enjoy getting you ejected out of the line. And I am not alone in this.

And who am I? I am a New Yorker who cares about theater.

[argentino]

11:38 AM on 06/09/2010

Friends, Romans, Countrymen - Lend me $125...