Don't Break the Bank on a Trip to the Theater

The high cost of living in Washington applies to the arts as much as to food and housing: Tickets to "The Nutcracker" at the Kennedy Center range from $47 to $150, for example, putting a family outing out of reach for many budgets. But a variety of performing arts organizations quietly offer steep discounts for families by offering free tickets to children and teens.

Children can attend -- without charge -- a performance Sunday at Dance Place, the musical "Iolanthe" next spring at the Atlas Performing Arts Center and every performance by the National Philharmonic Orchestra at Strathmore in Bethesda.

"It makes it affordable for people to create a love for classical music in their family," said Deborah Birnbaum, marketing manager for the National Philharmonic, whose all-kids-free, all-the-time program appears to be the area's most expansive. Children ages 7 to 17 can see any of the orchestra's 18 performances free.

Taking school-age children to a full-fledged concert can be a richer and more rewarding experience than the children's concerts that often draw a preschool crowd -- as my husband and 10-year-old daughter discovered when they heard the Philharmonic on a Sunday afternoon last spring. Birnbaum said parents whose children are too young to sit for an entire concert often take advantage of the free-ticket offer and leave at intermission still feeling like they got their money's worth.

And for teenagers old enough to chaperone themselves, the free tickets are available even without a paying adult.

"It's a great date night for high-schoolers," Birnbaum said. "You can sit anywhere. There are no restrictions." She said Strathmore issues about 4,000 free tickets each season. The Philharmonic will stage a choral performance of "Carmina Burana" Saturday, followed by Handel's "Messiah" Dec. 6-7 and a "Brass Holiday Celebration" Dec. 22.

Dance Place limits its kids-go-free offerings to monthly performances that target families, including Carla & Company on Sunday. For each paying adult, one child age 12 or younger is admitted free.

A number of area theater groups, including the Washington Savoyards, Folger Theatre and Arena Stage also offer one free child's ticket along with each full-price ticket for certain performances, as part of the League of Washington Theatres' Stages for All Ages program (sponsored, in part, by The Washington Post Co.).

Last spring's kids-free Savoyards performance was "Pirates of Penzance"; next spring's is Gilbert and Sullivan's "Iolanthe." The troupe will also stage a free preview of both of its spring shows Dec. 6 at the Atlas. (Reservations are required; call the box office.)

"We hear about so many people who got hooked on this stuff because they went when they were little," said Savoyard President Kathleen Mitchell, whose love of the arts was sparked by a fourth-grade field trip to the National Symphony Orchestra at DAR Constitution Hall. "We like diverse audiences. We like to have every generation represented. This is something that is part of our mission."