Knightsbridge slashes prices

“We love theater. We never wanted to become exclusionary. The whole point in the beginning was to bring great theater at a price people could afford,” said Knightsbridge Theatre managing artistic director Joseph P. Stachura, announcing a significant cut in ticket prices.

In an effort to increase its shrinking audience base, the 99-seat, Silver Lake-area Knightsbridge, a staple of L.A.’s small theater scene, will lower its prices to $10 across the board beginning April 30 with “Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits.”

It’s a risky move, Stachura acknowledged. “Cut your price in half and you may not be able to stay in business. At $20 a head, we don’t overcharge to begin with. At $10, it’s bare bones, and you have to sell more tickets to break even. So it’s a very worrisome thing. We’re basically undercutting our subscription price” -- $14 to $18 a seat -- “and we’re undercutting the discounts of ticketing agencies Goldstar and WebTix.”

Top tickets at smaller theaters generally run $25 to $35; on average, seats are $15 to $20. Online ticket agencies frequently offer tickets at half price plus a service fee.

Stachura, who founded the Knightsbridge in 1993 as a tiny black-box space in Pasadena, said that he typically sells fewer than two dozen regular-priced seats per show. He hopes the new price will bring in not only the theater-savvy but people who haven’t thought of theater as an entertainment option.