Because of the lack of ticket sales, admission to “An evening with Sarah Jones” will now be free to students.
The event, which takes place tonight at 8 p.m. in Kingsbury Hall, originally advertised tickets for $7.
However, because only seven tickets were sold, the fee was removed.
Admission tickets for the general public will remain the same, ranging from $10 to $20.
Those who purchased student tickets will receive their money back.
Alexandra Gregory, special programs chairwoman for the Associated Students of the University of Utah and a Chronicle writer, said the lack of ticket sales was partly due to inconsistent advertising.
ASUU began advertising for the performance roughly a week and a half before the performance, she said.
Brian Burton, programming adviser for ASUU, said advertising began late because promotion efforts were heavily set toward the Fiona Apple concert on Oct. 25.
Burton estimated that 1,800 tickets, ranging from $10 to $40, were sold for the Fiona Apple concert.
Although she declined to give the cost of booking the Sarah Jones performance, Gregory said slashing the ticket price would not hurt ASUU Presenter’s Office budget, which planned the event.
Gregory said that taking away the admission cost would help spread awareness about diversity issues.
Jones is a Tony Award-winning playwright, actor and poet whose work revolves around the topics of racism, feminism and social issues. Her performance is a one-woman show in which she slips into the shoes of various characters.
“One moment (Jones) could be a white male homophobic cop and the next she could be a young Hispanic male,” said Gregory, a senior in theater studies.
Gregory booked Jones after seeing her perform in Santa Barbara.
“Witnessing a performer with the ability to stimulate people’s interest was amazing because she actually wants you to care about something,” Gregory said. “I think this event can enrich the community and the student body.”
Furthermore, Burton said students should attend because Jones agreed to take part in a 30-minute question-and-answer session after the show.
Sadaf Baghbani, director of the ASUU diversity board, said the performance is a good way to spark conversations about diversity between students.
“The performance is a light-hearted approach on a heavy subject,” said Baghbani, a senior in political science and biology. “A lot of people complain that talking about diversity is hard, so this is one way to get started. Now they have no excuse.”
Photo Courtesy SarahJones.comSarah Jones embodies one of her many personas in her one-woman show tonight at Kingsbury Hall.