National Theater of Northern Greece celebrates social milestone
The Thessaloniki-based National Theater of Northern Greece is celebrating an important milestone after hitting the 1-million seat mark in special group bookings.
These groups include a diverse range of theatergoers, from ex-convicts in social reintegration programs and patients at psychiatric facilities, to pensioners from community centers and school pupils for far-flung islands.
“Theater is food for the soul,” the company’s Titi Karamanli, who arranges group bookings for associations, told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Tuesday.
The NTNG was founded in 1961, though the 1-million-seat milestone pertains to the last 20 years of its operation since the implementation of special pricing policies to encourage attendance by social associations and groups.
“There was one association that asked for its members to be given seats at the theater every Sunday. It told us, in fact, that they wanted to see every single show we did, and that’s what happened,” said Karamanli.
“It’s an incredible show of faith in the theater,” she added.
The NTNG is especially excited by the interest shown by younger audiences.
“Schools visiting the city are now putting the theater on their excursion schedules,” Karamanli said.
“We’ve always had visits from Chios, Lesvos and Crete, and it now seems that there is a different overall approach to excursions by schools,” she added.
