Loretta Blessinger was looking forward to seeing the comedy Girls Only with her daughter, and at $29, it was an affordable indulgence. But when her daughter got to the box office at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, she found out tickets were $36. When Blessinger complained, she was told ticket prices are automatically raised by the computer when sales are good.

Blessinger got airlined.

Without a formal public announcement, Denver Center Attractions has shifted to a demand-based pricing system over the past few months. As on an airplane, as the seats get fewer, the prices go up.

"The theory is that if there is a big demand for the show, we raise the ticket prices a little bit, just to maximize the gross potential of a show," says DCPA President Randy Weeks. "The subscribers and the people who bought tickets early actually end up paying less. They get a discount."

Well, sort of, in that they pay less than people who pay more, but basically they're just paying the advertised price.

The policy has been implemented only on Spamalot and Girls Only, Weeks says. The Monty Python was doing so well that all remaining tickets were raised by $5. With Girls Only, if there are fewer than 20 tickets remaining for a performance, the price goes up. (Already a hit, Girls Only has been extended to Feb. 15.)

The goal is to encourage advance sales and, most important, subscribers.

"The general psychology is that it's last-minute buying," Weeks says. "People who are spontaneous and want to do something - chances are they're not that price-sensitive."

It's not expected to add a lot to the bottom line, nor does Weeks hope to change the behavior of Colorado audiences, who are notorious for their last-minute ticket purchases. It also may not be the last shift for the DCPA, which has hired a marketing firm to analyze its ticket pricing.

Blessinger had a great time at Girls Only. She went with two friends from her days at South High School, and she'd bought the tickets on their behalf.

"I was uncomfortable when I asked them for more money than was printed in the paper," she says.

SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN: After a year's hiatus, the Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region has found a new home with Curious Theatre Company.

The showcase, sponsored by Red Rocks Community College and nurtured by the school's Pamela Mencher, selects scripts from writers throughout the West for workshops and readings. It had been a co- production with the Arvada Center, but last year the Arvada Center pulled out. The result: no 2008 showcase.

Red Rocks has the facilities to host the event, but part of the event's purpose is to integrate the college into the larger region.

"Red Rocks is very connected to the community," Mencher says. "Through the showcase, we're starting to establish a more regional presence. We could keep it just at the college, but the people who participate do better when they've got a spectrum of people (to work with). Each of the partners brings something very meaningful and important to the process of playwriting and supporting of new work."

Two years ago, Curious artistic director Chip Walton participated in the showcase as a "luminary." As a company, Curious has long been committed to the development of new work, including its involvement in the National New Play Network. Although the company is not funding the showcase, it is contributing its facility and its first playwright-in-residence, Jennifer Fawcett, as a coordinator.

"It's a great way for us to support local and regional writers, and it's totally part of our mission," Walton says. "It makes a lot of sense to me."

bornsteinl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5101

Success stories

Beginning in 2004, the three sessions of the Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region gave scripts from across the West a chance to grow. Here's how a few have fared:

* The M Word, by William Missouri Downs (2007): Produced by the University of Wyoming and part of the 2008 Regional American College Theatre Festival. It opens in two weeks in Pasco, Wash.

* In Memoriam, by Marlene Remington (2005): Published by Pioneer Drama Service.

* Rumplestiltskin, by Sally Netzel (2005): Published by Pioneer Drama Service.

* Room at the Inn, by Barbara Lindsey (2005): Productions in California, New York, Minnesota and Australia. (Lindsey also met her husband, William Selig, at the showcase.)

* The 2009 showcase will be Aug. 2-8 at Red Rocks Community College and Curious Theatre Company. Submissions are due Feb. 12. Information: www.rrcc.edu /playwrightshowcase.

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