BETC’s Ragan bets on free tickets to bring young people back to the theatre

The BETC leader is personally funding a new initiative that offers completely free seats to students — and hopes other Colorado theatres will follow his lead.

Mark Ragan has a theory about why young people aren’t coming to the theatre — and he’s putting his own money behind testing it.

The Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company’s managing director has launched a new initiative offering completely free tickets to students at every BETC performance this season. The program, detailed at studentscomefree.com, is designed to remove what Ragan believes is the single biggest barrier keeping younger audiences away: price.

“There’s an enormous difference between free and a student discount,” Ragan said. “If something’s free, you go on, you put the code in, you’re done. You don’t have to fish out your wallet, find your credit card, navigate all of the website mechanics.”

The idea crystallized after a conversation with one of his daughters, who grew up attending theatre and dance performances but told her father flatly that she simply couldn’t afford it now. With tickets running $40 or more — plus venue fees — a night out for a family quickly approaches $200. “That’s just not an option,” Ragan recalled her saying.

BETC is capping the free tickets at 12 per performance, a hedge against the no-show problem that can be a bother with comped seats. Ragan says the company will follow up with ticket holders by email in the days leading up to performances, asking them to cancel if their plans change.

As BETC’s principal donor, Ragan says he’s personally covering the cost of the program. He’s unapologetic about that investment, and he’d like to see other companies follow suit.

“I would say they can’t afford not to do it,” he said. “Find a donor that’ll back it.”

The program has its own dedicated landing page — deliberately separate from BETC’s main website — built on the marketing principle of eliminating distractions. Ragan, who spent more than 30 years in email marketing before his work in theatre, calls it the “blinders” approach: one offer, one action, nothing else in your peripheral vision.

Distribution is the next challenge. BETC is targeting LinkedIn campaigns aimed at CU students, outreach through performing arts communities and old-fashioned grassroots efforts.

But Ragan acknowledges price may only be part of the problem. The other half, he fears, is behavioral — a generation conditioned to stream content at home rather than go out.

“If I remove the obstacle of price altogether and still nothing happens,” he said, “that tells me it’s not just price.”

His goal is modest but meaningful: 10 to 15 young people in the seats at every performance. He’s giving it a full season to prove the concept.

“Something has to happen,” Ragan said. “We cannot run a theatre company with audiences made up only of 60-, 70- and 80-year-olds.”

Students can claim their free tickets at studentscomefree.com.