PROGRAMS > FREE NIGHT OF THEATER Free Night of Theater 2009 has come to a close and all tickets are SOLD OUT! Free Night of Theater 2009 - Dallas October 8 - November 8, 2009 Presented by The City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs in conjunction with Theatre Communications Group (TCG), Free Night of Theater is a national program that campaigns to raise the awareness of and attract new audiences to live theatrical performances. OCA is thrilled to partner with the Dallas theatre community and TCG to offer this unique opportunity for thousands of new audience members to have access to experience the joy of theatre for the first time -- absolutely free of charge! Visit the national Free Night of Theater website at freenightoftheater.net for more information. Please join the Free Night email list to receive notice of the 2010 program and to receive periodic special offers from Free Night's participating theatres. Visit Free Night of Theater on Facebook - National | Local Thank you to our 2009 Free Night Partners! Thank you to the 2009 Free Night Participating Theatres African American Repertory Theater MBS Productions Charles W. Eisemann Center for Performing Arts Pocket Sandwich Theatre Contemporary Theatre of Dallas Repertory Company Theatre Dallas Black Dance Theatre Rover Dramawerks Dallas Children's Theater Second Thought Theatre Dallas Hub Theater Shakespeare Dallas Dallas Theater Center Teatro Dallas Dallas Wind Symphony TeCo Theatrical Productions Echo Theatre The Black Academy of Arts and Letters Flower Mound Performing Arts Theatre Theatre Three Garland Civic Theatre Undermain Theatre ICT MainStage Uptown Players Jubilee Theatre Upstart Productions in conjunction with Project X Kitchen Dog Theater WaterTower Theatre Lyric Stage Free Night of Theater 2008 The inaugural year for Free Night in Dallas offered theatergoers nearly 5,000 free tickets to more than 25 Dallas-area theaters from October 16 through November 10, 2008. Dallas was one of 120 communities across the country participating in the event. According to a research study commissioned by Theatre Communications Group (TCG, New York) and conducted by Shugoll Research (Bethesda, MA), the Free Night of Theater 2008 program was a tremendous success for Dallas. Study Highlights for Dallas: 95% of Dallas audiences rated the program as Excellent/Very Good 99% of Dallas audiences said they were very likely to attend Free Night again 70% of Dallas audiences reported that they attended a theatre they'd never been to before (national average - 69%) 49% of Dallas audiences reported that they returned to the theatre they attended and purchased a ticket. (national average - 34%) 43% of Dallas audiences report that they attend theatre more since Free Night And 85% say they attend more because of Free Night View the complete final report on TCG's Free Night 2008 program. Free Night 2008 on KERA's Art&Seek - 1: Listing | 2: Report | 3: Roundup Free Night of Theatre History Free Night of Theater was conceived at TCG's National Conference in 2003 as a way to remove perceived barriers that have historically prevented audiences from attending not-for-profit theater. The program was piloted in 2005 in three cities; Philadelphia, San Francisco and Austin. That year over 150 theatre companies welcomed nearly 8,000 theatergoers of which an estimated 80 percent were attending the theatre for the first time. Since 2005 the program has grown tremendously. In 2008, the fourth year for Free Night, the program will include over 600 theatre companies in over 120 cities and will provide an estimated 75,000 tickets. Recent attendance research gathered by Shugoll Research reports that 41 percent of 2007's Free Night patrons returned and purchased tickets to another performance at the same theatre following their Free Night experience. For more information about Free Night of Theater, contact: Greg MacPherson Cultural Programs Coordinator 214.671.0971