People always complain that theater is too expensive.
And it is — if you’re referring to Broadway, with its $150 orchestra seats and its overpriced Theater District restaurants.
But the Great White Way isn’t the only game in town. A slew of off-off-Broadway theaters — some so off, they’re across the East River in Brooklyn — prove it’s possible to deliver great programming at great prices.
In fact, it’s surprisingly easy to score dinner and a show for $50 or less.
The neighborhood: SoHo
The theater: Here, 145 Sixth Ave.; 212-352-3101
Since 1993, Here has anchored a quiet corner of Soho, the sole theatrical outpost in a neighborhood once known for its artistic edge. With not one, but two spaces — one on each floor — Here straddles the line between experimental, goofy downtown and high art.
For a perfect illustration, look no further than its annual Prototype: Opera/Theatre/Now festival, which this year offered Todd Almond’s song cycle “Kansas City Choir Boy,” starring no less than Courtney Love.
But Here’s two venues — the main on the ground floor, the smaller in the basement — have also hosted surprisingly successful crossover shows. Basil Twist’s dreamy “Symphonie Fantastique” and Joey Arias’ ultracamp “Arias With a Twist” each ran for months.
Downtown writer-performer Taylor Mac has developed some of his best work at Here, including the five-hour fantasia “The Lily’s Revenge,” which took over both floors, including the bathrooms.
Next up is “Money Lab,” an “economic vaudeville” that explores finance — audience members will get tokens whose value will fluctuate over the course of the evening.
Average ticket: $20
Seating capacity: Mainstage, 99; Dorothy B. Williams Theatre, 71
Nearby eats: As its name suggests, Lupe’s East LA Kitchen (110 Sixth Ave.; 212-966-1326) takes its burritos and quesadillas seriously. But with seafood entrees under $15, you can afford to leave the tortilla wraps behind.
The neighborhood: Williamsburg
The theater: The Brick, 579 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn; 718-285-3863
Anything goes at Williamsburg’s Brick theater, a cozy black box where local mad hatters throw offbeat ideas at the wall and see what sticks.
The themed summer fests can get especially wacky, from 2007’s Pretentious Festival to 2012’s election-year Democracy, where audiences voted for their favorite candidate — that is, show.
You won’t be surprised to learn the Brick hosts a lot of spectacles featuring clowns, though you may want to keep the kiddies away from these.
But the venue also explores more serious matters, as in Howard Fishman’s new piece, “A Star Has Burnt My Eye,” a tribute to Connie Converse, the cult New York folkie who mysteriously vanished in 1974.
Average ticket: $18
Seating capacity: 50
Nearby eats: You can’t find any spot more Williamsburg than Blind Barber (524 Lorimer St.; 718-599-2435), the rare diner-barbershop combo. Barber’s variations on grilled-cheese sammies are worth loosening up your belt for: speck, manchego, soppressata and mozzarella for $10? Plus raunchy clowns afterward? Sign us up!
The neighborhood: TriBeCa
The theater: Soho Rep, 46 Walker St.; 866-811-4111
Soho Rep may have the finest programming in town. Certainly, no other theater puts up as many shows that generate as much buzz and conversation.
Its latest smash was Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ irreverent take on slavery, “An Octoroon,” which transferred to a much larger off-Broadway space this winter.
The space’s configuration is even radically altered for every show — for “generations,” the seats disappeared and truckloads of red dirt were poured in to evoke a South African shantytown.
Who knows what Soho Rep will look like for its production of Anne Washburn’s “10 out of 12” (starting May 27)?
Average ticket: $35, but you can land $25 seats through Facebook and Twitter. Also look for 99-cent Sundays.
Seating capacity: 73
Nearby eats: Good thing the no-frills Breakroom (83 Baxter St.; 212-227-2802) isn’t far from Soho Rep, since an order of their Breakroom fries ($6.95) — a dish involving an egg, pork belly, cheese, bacon and jalapeños — makes it hard to move. Want to add a burger to those fries? All it costs is another $3. Of course, when you’re shelling out 99 cents a ticket, you’ll have money to burn.
The neighborhood: Hell’s Kitchen
The theater: Ars Nova, 511 W. 54th St.; 212-352-3101
This long, narrow space in upper Hell’s Kitchen — or is that Hell’s Pantry? — specializes in discovering rising playwrights while delivering quirky takes on musicals, cabaret and comedy.
Ars Nova hosted the off-Broadway cult musical “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda turned up with his hip-hop/improv show “Freestyle Love Supreme” long before he went on to Broadway fame with “In the Heights” and “Hamilton.”
Average ticket: $17
Seating capacity: flexible but usually 99
Nearby eats: Most noodle bowls at Totto Ramen (366 W. 52nd St.; 212-582-0052) hover around $12, which leaves plenty of change for Ars Nova’s own Bars Nova, which often features drinks and snack specials tailored to the current show — right now, there’s vanilla and cinnamon granola pegged to the wonderful new play “Small Mouth Sounds,” which takes place at an earthy-crunchy spiritual retreat.
The neighborhood: Bushwick
The theater: The Bushwick Starr 207 Starr St., Brooklyn; 917-623-9669
Tucked away in Brooklyn’s hipper-than-thou neighborhood, the Bushwick Starr is theater’s answer to your favorite rock club — intimate, friendly, cutting edge — and it always delivers.
The fare tends to favor the out-there, and the venue hosts some of NYC’s most forward-thinking artists, like Tina Satter’s Half Straddle company and Dave Malloy, whose exquisite song cycle “Ghost Quartet” had sardonic hipsters in tears.
The Starr is community-minded, too: April 24 through 26 is the venue’s fifth annual Big Green Theater Festival, in which students from two Bushwick middle schools put on eco-themed shows.
Average ticket: $18, which includes a voucher for a tasting glass at craft-beer bar the Sampler (234 Starr St.; 718-484-3560), just a few doors down.
Seating capacity: 74
Nearby eats: Café Ghia (24 Irving Ave., Brooklyn; 718-821-8806) accommodates vegans ($13 for the stir-fry) and their meat-loving friends ($13 for the grass-fed burger — plus $2 for a side of tater tots). The Crisis Emergen-C cocktail combines vodka, soda water and lemon-lime-flavored vitamin powder to keep you going.