“I’m free, are you?”

So goes the tagline for Theatre Bay Area’s (TBA) National Free Night of Theatre campaign. It’s also a question TBA hopes Bay Area residents will ask each other on Thursday, Oct. 20 when 85 of the area’s theaters open their doors to audiences at no cost.

“We’re asking patrons to try a theater they’ve never gone to before,” says TBA Executive Director Brad Erickson. “If someone never attends theater, then any of the [shows] would be perfect. If someone already attends one theater regularly, we’re hoping they’ll try something different.”

As the third largest theater district in the country, the Bay Area has more theater troupes per capita than any other metropolitan area excluding New York City, according to Erickson. TBA hopes the pilot free theater program will boost a consciousness of the vibrant theater scene that the area has to offer.

“There’s a lot out there,” Erickson says. “We want to build awareness of theater in our region, encourage risk-taking by audiences and foster a theater-going habit in all our diverse communities.”

According to Erickson, the response to the event has been “enthusiastic.” The TBA Web site received 100,000 hits within an hour of the tickets’ release, he says.

But Rachel Anderson, a graduate student in drama at Stanford, questions the program’s long-term effectiveness.

“In my experience, offering free tickets doesn’t necessarily get bodies in seats,” Anderson says. “But if it is cost that keeps would-be patrons away rather than artistic complacency, I think it’s an excellent idea.”

She continues, “I like it as a gateway strategy for building audiences. But I like it more when tickets stay affordable and audiences make life-long, rather than evening-long, commitments to the arts.”

Though most of the shows are sold out, some tickets remain available for shows such as “Menopause the Musical,” which Indiana’s Frankfurt Times reviewed as a “joyous, rollicking celebration of sisterhood.” The musical is playing at San Francisco’s Theatre 39, located at Fisherman’s Wharf. If you can’t make it to the free performance on Oct. 20, regular performances cost $46.50 and are on Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Wednesday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and Saturday at 4 p.m. For further information, call (415)-433-3939.

Another production with tickets available is “Drake’s Drum,” a play depicting an imagined meeting between Sir Francis Drake and Sir Thomas Doughty — a friend whom Drake sentenced to death. It is showing at the Sonoma County Repertory Theatre, located an hour-and-a-half north of Stanford. Prior the free performance on Oct. 20 — which is the last date the show will run — there are showings Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and a Sunday matinee Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. Prices range from $15 to $20. For further information, call (707)-823-0177.

Other notable shows that will be free on Oct. 20 include a revue of Mercer songs: “Moon River: A Johnny Mercer Cabaret” at CTA Crossroads, an hour northeast of campus, and “Splittin’ the Raft,” a highly-stylized retelling of “Huckleberry Finn” as interpreted by Frederick Douglass. “Splittin’” is showing at the Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, which is an hour north of Stanford. It is also near the Ross Valley Players, which features “Wait Until Dark” — a thriller depicting a blind woman’s travails with heroin-dealing thugs.

Be it to see post-menstrual women or Huck Finn, “The best way to get into theater is to actually go!” Erickson says.

To get tickets to Free Theatre Night, visit http://www.theatrebayarea.org.

Otherwise, check out these additional venues that offer affordable shows year-round.

The Thick House (http://www.thickdescription.org) located on 18th Street in San Francisco “tends to produce fairly cutting-edge stuff,” according to sophomore Paz Hilfinger-Pardo. “Their previews are usually either pay-what-you-can or sometimes [the theatre will] pay you a dollar to see the show.”

Hilfinger-Pardo also recommends Bay Area Theatre Sports (http://www.improv.org) which presents weekly, completely improvised shows in San Francisco.

Sophomore Tara Laidlaw promotes TheatreWorks (www.theatreworks.org).

“They do a lot of things most people haven’t heard of, but they’re always fantastic,” she says. “An added bonus is you can bike to their Palo Alto venue from campus.”