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By Heather Urquides
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 5, 1996
Packed audiences at Arizona Repertory Theatre productions are often filled with UA students who are required to be there.This year's 60th anniversary season, "Diamonds, Drama and Dreams," features six productions: "You Can't Take It with You," "Over the Rainbow - the Music of Harold Arlen," "The School for Scandal," "Dragons," "The Night of the Iguana" and "Macbeth."
University of Arizona students will comprise a substantial portion of the audiences for these plays.
Albert Tucci, head of the Theatre Arts Department, said 25 percent of the audiences are student subscribers. He also said that for the past three years, Arizona Repertory Theatre has averaged 91 percent capacity at its productions.
A possible explanation for this high capacity is the fact that for many UA students, attendance at the theater's productions is mandatory.
Students in Jeffrey Warburton's theater appreciation class are required to attend two of ART's performances. This means that the 330 students in his class will purchase 660 tickets to theater performances this semester alone.
Warburton said the other section of the class is only required to see one of the theater's productions, and that section is smaller with only 200 students.
Mandatory attendance to the theater's productions from the two sections of Theatre Arts 103 will sell 860 tickets this semester alone. Students from other theatre arts classes, such as Theatre Arts 100, Acting for General College Students, may also be required to see theater productions. There are 14 sections of that class scheduled this semester.
Single ticket prices for students range between $8 and $12, depending on the day and type of production. Weekend performances and musicals are more.
ART holds its productions in Marroney and Laboratory theaters. There are 330 seats in Marroney, and although seating at the Laboratory Theatre varies, it averages about 330.
The 860 tickets purchased by UA students enrolled in Theatre Arts 103 to fulfill a general education requirement almost fills three shows. They add about $8,600 in ticket revenues.
There are about 230 theatre arts majors at UA this year. Majors are required to attend all six of the theater's productions, taking up 1,380 seats at shows this year. These students have the option of purchasing season tickets, which provides a discount in addition to the already discounted student rate. If all student majors purchase season tickets for the shows they are required to attend, more than $10,000 will be changing hands.
Tucci said he feels if students are majoring in the department, they should be required to see departmental plays.
Warburton said the show requirement isn't such a burden on majors because seeing productions improves their skill level. The more shows a theatre arts major takes in, the more educated they become, he said.
Not requiring majors to see shows would be like teaching a literature course without texts, he said.
He also added that he requires his general education class to see other Tucson productions, but that he feels the Arizona Repertory Theatre productions are closer and easier for students to attend.
"The theatre arts department puts out high quality productions," he said. "And I feel it's important for them to see that."
Seeing their fellow students on stage, and the difficulty of finding transportation to off-campus productions, were other reasons Warburton gave for requiring the ART shows.
Single tickets for non-musicals are $8 to $10 for students, depending on the date of the performance. For musicals, student single tickets are $10 to $12.
Prices for student season tickets are $44.20 for weekday shows and matinees. For Friday and Saturday evening performances, the season ticket price is $54.40. UA employees and senior citizens also receive a discount.
For more information about Arizona Repertory Theatre, call 621-1162.
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