There is always a show to see downtown. The Denver Performing Arts complex is one of Colorado’s best cultural hot spots. Anyone can buy a ticket, and for almost every show there is a way to get a discount if you are a student.
The problem? Finding out how to get the discount is a bit hard.
It turns out that there are two different systems in place for the majority of shows. It all depends if you want to see a theater production or the symphony.
If you mean to see a play, the best chance to get in cheap is to select a show staged by the Denver Center Theatre Company. Thanks to a generous grant, the DCTC offers great discounts to students this season. For the two remaining shows this season, students need a valid student ID that they present at the box office one hour before show time and receive a $10 ticket. The DCPA hopes to receive the same grant next year so that the discounts can remain in place next season.
The DCPA also hosts a plethora of touring productions. Most offer student discount tickets, but it’s “really hit and miss” says one of the DCTC ticket agents, who prefers to remain anonymous. She recommends students call when the company comes to town and show up to see the show during the beginning of its run. “As the show continues, people realize that they had better go and see it before it heads out of town, so later performance dates are more likely to be sold out,” she says.
Planning to attend a concert of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra? College students and people under 18 are offered half price tickets on the day of the concert. Only select schools get the real deal. A half hour before the concert, students from DU, Metro, Red Rocks Community College, CU Denver, Regis University, School of Mines, Community college of Aurora and CU Boulder can purchase $5 tickets. As they start selling these tickets the DCPA starts “selling the best seats available to students. Students could potentially get $70 tickets,” explains ticket sales associate Chris Peterson.
I got a discount ticket last Friday and managed to slide in five minutes before the 7:30 p.m. curtain for Stravinsky’s violin concerto. The seat was in the second section orchestra and cost $5 with my DU Pioneer card.
