Theater offers bail out for audience

While most theater companies hunker down and attempt to get through this recession as best they can, others are taking bold steps.Crowded Fire has announced that for its next production, Wreckage by Caridad Svich, running May 9 through June 6, there will be free tickets for the unemployed.The tickets will be distributed before select shows (May 9-17, excluding opening night, May 11), and patrons need to show a current unemployment record or check stub.The decision to offer these comps came out of a conversation with a local playwright and colleague who had just received a pink slip. “It is important to us that anyone who wants to see our work has the opportunity to do so, no matter where they stand financially. At Crowded Fire we wish to create community around and through our work. In the current economic climate, we felt that we needed to extend access beyond our typical Pay-What-You-Can preview performances,” said managing director Tiffany Cothran.Wreckage is described as "a haunting tale in which two boys emerge from the sea and become engulfed in a world of savage longing. A Woman, Husband, and male Nurse find and care for the boys, who experience sexual awakening amidst a landscape of blurred roles, where a mother may be a lover, a boy may be a girl, and power and sex are one. Svich’s stylized, poetic language weaves together moments of disconcerting beauty and pain as the boys search for a home amidst a culture of brutality."Full price tickets range from $15 to $25 dollars with half price tickets offered via Theatre Bay Area’s Half Price Ticket booth. The show is performed at The Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma St. (between 6th and 7th streets) San Francisco. Visit www.crowdedfire.org for information.Here's the trailer for Wreckage:

Wreckage Trailer from Crowded Fire on Vimeo.