I am a fan of the Showtime hit series, Billions and its in-house psychologist, Wendy Rhoades.

This is the story of me being drawn into the theatre for a celebrity and coming out with a bigger appreciation of this theatre company’s initiative.

When I saw that actress, Maggie Siff (seen above with Damien Lewis) was starring in a play, Creditors in Greenwich Village, I tried my best to secure the tickets.

Alas, the show was sold out.

The optimist in me, saw this as an opportunity to explore the village.

Same day tickets are usually obtained at the physical box office so I was that annoying person checking in every now and then for ticket cancellations.

Forty minutes before the show, the heavens smiled down on me.

Ticket snapped up in glee. I rewarded myself with some hot honey pizza at Mama’s TOO!

Going in, I had no idea what the play was about except that there were just three actors in a small, intimate theater with a minimalist set.

After some research, I found out that the play Creditors is one of two plays produced in collaboration by a new theatrical partnership led by Broadway veteran producer, Sonia Friedman and Hugh Jackson.

The other play is Hannah Moscovitch’s Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes starring Hugh Jackman.

The theatre partnership is called Together and it was formed with an aim to make live theater more accessible with low-cost (or sometimes free) tickets and to generally strip away the trappings of big-budget shows—elaborate sets, expensive stars—to bring theater-going back down to earth.

It is so refreshing to see a big star like Hugh Jackman initiating such an endeavour.

Success doesn’t always need to be grandiose, after watching the play, these are the advantages of staying small:

The minimal set design and stage layout put the audience’s emphasis on the characters and their dialogue.

The theatre was small enough such that even the mezzanine seats had a good view.

Liev Schreiber giving a monologue while smoking in his armchair for a good amount of time might make you restless. I’m happy to report that I was thoroughly engaged in the storyline.

Given the star billing, it was no wonder the tickets quickly sold out.

However, there were multiple chances to enter the ticket lottery to purchase the tickets at an affordable price.

My lucky rush ticket cost $ 35.

I’ve very appreciative of Audible & Together’s initiative to set aside a large proportion of affordable tickets.

If you were to watch Kieran Culkin in Glengarry Glen Ross or George Clooney on Broadway on the same night, similarly positioned tickets would have set you back by at least $ 200.

Despite some of the actors being more well known than their fellow theater actors, there were no supporting roles.

Every actor had a fully fleshed out character and great lines. They were there to engage and interact as equals.

In most productions, there would be obvious distinction between the main star and the rest of the cast.

In this case, it felt more like an ensemble effort.

Honestly, the only distinction between the cast would be the size of their stage door crowd. 😛

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