Luna Stage is a professional regional theatre with a revolutionary commitment: every production, class, summer camp, and artistic event is offered on a Pay-What-You-Choose (PWYC) basis. To our knowledge, we are the only professional theatre in the country to fully embrace this model. This is not a promotional gimmick or a discount strategy. PWYC is a bold reimagining of who has the right to experience live theatre. What began as a pandemic response has become a core philosophy rooted in equity, access, and cultural justice.

Our current PWYC model relies on an invisible contract of mutual generosity: audience members with means often pay more to subsidize those with less. However, in today’s economic climate, that generosity is under increasing pressure. Inflation and financial uncertainty have reduced both the ability and the impulse for patrons to “pay it forward" while federal funding for the arts—particularly work centered on equity and social justice—has been significantly reduced.

Help us keep doing the “impossible”: producing world-class, socially engaged theatre that is accessible to all