This Theatre Runs A Name-Your-Own-Price Subscription Model, And It Works (So Far)

For its first five seasons, the Ubuntu Theater Project in Oakland sold tickets at $15 to $45 a seat, with some pay-what-you-wish seats available for low-income audience members at the door. “But all that wasn’t inclusive — or radical — enough for Ubuntu. So last summer, the theatre adopted a pay-as-you-can subscription model, guaranteeing tickets to its seven shows for a single amount named by the ticketholder.” Says marketing director Simone Finney, “This is what we’re about as a company, and if we were gonna fail, we should fail on things that are ideologically exciting.”