I was a bit of a doomsdayer yesterday, I know.

So today, I’m gonna be Mr. Constructive-Guy and follow-up with a simple something you can do to help the biz get through this economic muck.  At the same time, this something will actually make your life a lot easier as well.

Here it is.  You ready?

Give theater tickets for your holiday gifts.

We’ve got enough eyeballs on this blog that if each of you went out and bought a pair of theater tickets for one person on your holiday list, we’d more than fill a Broadway house.  And if each you of you got a pair of theater tickets for EVERY person on your list, well, we could fill a whole week!

Here are some reasons why you should buy theater tickets as your holiday gifts this year:

• You’re going to spend the money on gifts anyway, why not spend it on theater.
• Theater tickets are special and have a high perceived value.
• They can be inexpensive due to the multitude of discount sites out there like BroadwayBox, TDF and BestOfOffBroadway.
• They can be flexible thanks to gift certificates (and the thank-God-they-are-finally-coming gift cards)
  • Although here’s an idea for the shows out there planning Holiday Gift Campaigns:  I’d get rid of the “No Exchange” policy for this season, and make it public that if you bought tickets for any performance in January or February before 12/24, you could exchange it to any other performance during that time.
• The choice of show can be personalized to your recipient.
• You can sit at home and buy them all in one hour, or save some service fees and take a trip to the box office.
• You’re supporting what you love and developing more audiences for the future.

It may seem like one pair of tickets is a small thing, but to sound like a 2nd grader for a second . . . lots of small things add up to one big thing.

So ‘Tis The Season, and your task is to buy at least one pair of tickets for someone on your list.  When you’ve done it, come back and comment below what show you bought and for whom (we won’t tell).

First five folks that do it will get the opening night gift that I gave to all of the members of the Speed The Plow company; a money clip in the shape of a dollar sign that says, “F*** MONEY” – Speed The Plow, Oct. 23, 2008.