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I’m in the middle of reading a retrospective on the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater of New York City and Joseph Papp, its founder. Papp’s radical vision of creating a company that brought Shakespeare to the masses for free changed the face and the heart of not only New York theater, but also all of American theater. The concept of theater as a vehicle for social change and comment had not yet made a significant impact on America.

But why should you care?

Papp’s early life was mired in the Great Depression, a situation not far off from what might or might not be our waning great recession. And while the financial stability and gain of our artistic community doesn’t change terribly much from trend to trend, the general public is in a situation where disposable income doesn’t seem so disposable, and the choice of dropping $20 on a theater ticket or $20 for gas is not really a choice.

Many of the circumstances that led to Papp creating the public theater have come to inspire us again as a nation, to remind us of the value of theater in good times and in poor, and several of our local theater companies have dealt with our current socioeconomic problems by offering programs in the vein of Papp.

What to do? Well, if you believe in buying local as a tool in combating economic woes, a trend I hope becomes a habit again for Americans, you have some opportunities to support local theater and keep within a budget, even if yours might be zero.

Brüka Theatre has its artist/student/teacher nights, generally on a Wednesday evening performance. Tickets are greatly reduced in price, and while the title singles out particular populations, the reality is that Brüka’s definition of those things includes everyone.

For its main-stage productions, Good Luck Macbeth Theatre Co. now has been offering for two years a pay-what-you-can night. This donation-only evening is always on the first Thursday after a show opens and is dedicated to the accessibility of the arts. Cost is exactly what it says. Only have $2? That’s fine. Have $13? That’s good, too. $40? They’ll take it.

Reno Little Theater has just introduced a donation-only performance, as well. They’ve even gone a step farther and at their last offering donated 20 percent of the ticket sales to the Reno Area Theatre Alliance.

What I’ve found at GLM is that these performances tend to bring in as much income as any other performance. Why? Because people who have $20, $50 or even $100 to give will give it if they believe in the vision. And, in these times when finances are still tough for the majority, most people recognize the need for the arts — the transformative, uplifting drive of the arts to turn a people from depression to ascension.

Chad Sweet is the Producing Artistic Director of Good Luck Macbeth Theatre Company.

This article originally written and reproduced with the permission of The Reno Gazette Journal.