Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is this all about? I coordinate field trips for homeschoolers to the following:
Actor's Theatre
CYT (Christian Youth Theatre) Southwest Shakespeare Arizona Opera East Valley Children's Theatre (EVCT) Valley Youth Theatre Arizona Theatre Company Fountain Hills Community Theatre Ballet Arizona Music Memories Broadway Palm Luncheon Theatre Phoenix Symphony Center Dance Slim Goodbody Childsplay Spotlight Theatre Cookie Company/Greasepaint Stageworks Theatre From the main Field Trips page click on the performance title and it will display a page with details about the performance, including cost and payment deadline.
2. I want to attend a field trip(s), now what do I do? It's really pretty simple.....send me an email (jan@theparsonsfamily.com) telling me the name of the event and how many adults/children will be attending. I'll send a reply email confirming your reservations, all the details of the show and payment instructions. Make your check payable to me, and send it to Jan Parsons, PO Box 38308, Phoenix, AZ 85069. Please write a note on or with your check showing what event you are paying. Because I coordinate so many events, this helps ensure that I credit your payment to your reservation! I use a PO Box so that if we're out of town, or even away from home, I don't have to worry about checks sitting in my home mailbox. Please include your email address so that I can reach you if needed. I request that you send it so that I RECEIVE it no later than the payment deadline (it takes 1 or 2 days for the mail to get to me from anywhere in Arizona so please factor that in when mailing). If I haven't received it by the deadline, I'll email you a friendly reminder, which I ask that you respond to so I know whether or not you are still interested and if so that you will be sending the check immediately. I have a contract with these companies and therefore have to pay them shortly after your payment deadline, so I appreciate your timely payment. If your payment arrives too late, I will still contact the theatre and try to add seats to my order, but that depends on availability with the theatre, as I have to release any tickets I'm not needing when I make my purchase. If they have sold out, I will contact you and either return your check, or shred it for you.
3. I want to bring my _*_ year old...is that ok? and/or Do I have to pay for my _*_ year old? I have to follow the rules and policies of the theatres that we will be visiting. The theatres inform me that the fire code in the state of Arizona requires that everyone have a seat....that means even your infant who will spend the whole time in your arms. They have to know how many are in the theatre in the event of an emergency. So...since your child of any age must have a seat, the theatre will charge you for that seat. As for the age of your child....
Childsplay's policy is children must be 3 years or older to be allowed in the theatre.
Arizona Theatre Company does not allow children under 4 years inside the theatre.
The Phoenix Symphony requires children to be of school age...which they state is at least 5 years old.
Southwest Shakespeare requests that children under 5 years old not attend their performances. Also, keep in mind that the subject matter of some Shakespeare plays may be too mature for some children. Typically Southwest Shakespeare is most appropriate for high school and/or mature junior high students.The theatre will not give a refund if they do not allow your child into the theatre if they are younger than stated above. I have the age restrictions listed on the detail pages for each affected theatre, please respect these rules. In the past the theatres have been rather loosey goosey about enforcing these rules so I left it loose and up to the parents to decide, but now that their contracts state their policy, so I must now enforce them as well. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
4. Why do you do this? Because my girls and I love going to these events! Ten years ago when we moved to the Valley the girls and I attended a field trip to a local theatre with a homeschool support group. We had a marvelous time and on the way out of the theatre I picked up their brochure for the rest of the year's performances. I called the person who coordinated that field trip and learned that she only planned to coordinate for a couple of the shows.....but the girls and I wanted to see them all! So I coordinated field trips for the other plays for that company, and started looking around for more companies. By the end of that first season I was coordinating for 4 different theatres. As you can see, over the years I've added more, and now coordinate for 16 different companies! If you know of any more companies that offer student matinees or student discounts, let me know!
5. Do you make a profit doing this? Is this a home business for you? The simple answer is no, I don't make a profit, and while it's somtimes a lot of work like a business, no, it's not a business for us (though my husband may feel differently when I spend a whole evening on the phone!). The more complex answer is that I do get some benefit for doing this....besides the obvious that I get to pick the date and time most convenient to our schedule, there are other benefits. If I coordinate a large enough group, the company often gives me a complimentary ticket(s). This doesn't happen with every company, and it doesn't happen every time with those companies that do comp. It mostly depends on the size of the group. Often I do use these comps for my own family, but just as often I've been known to invite another family, (usually but not always a homeschooling family) to join us. But, on the other hand, on occasion I have also had to pay for other people's tickets when they've failed to pay as promised and I already paid the company because I had a contracted payment deadline. Thankfully that doesn't happen often and it all kind of evens out somehow.
6. Refunds. Unfortunately, I cannot give a refund. Once I receive payment from you and the others in the group, I deposit your checks and write one check of my own to the company to purchase the tickets. Since they do not allow me to get a refund, I cannot give a refund to you. To do so would mean paying you out of my own pocket, something I can't afford to do. However, if you find you will be unable to attend a field trip, please let me know as soon as possible. It's rare, but occasionally I have a waiting list. Even if I don't have a waiting list, I'd be happy to make an announcement to all my contacts in the homeschool community that you have tickets available, and it's sometimes possible that someone hadn't signed up before but might now want to go. I can't promise, nor guarantee, that someone will want to buy your tickets from you, but I'm willing to try to help you. The more time you give me to make the announcement, the better chance we have of finding someone for you. If there is enough time, then you and the other person can make arrangements for payment directly to you, just let me know that someone else will be taking your place, so that I can note it on my list of payees. If there isn't enough time for payment to be made between you, I am willing to act as intermediary and collect payment from the new people at the performance and forward it to you. But be sure to let me know that you have arranged this, so that my list of payees is correct and I know to collect the money for you. I can only allow those on my paid reservations list to attend with our group, so it is imperative that you inform me of any changes. Your new payee needs to arrive BEFORE we go into the theatre (so a MINIMUM of 30 minutes before showtime) in order for me to collect their payment and allow them into the theatre. Any questions about this policy, please contact me (see FAQ # 7 for contact information).
7. I have questions, how do I contact you? Easiest for me is by email at jan@theparsonsfamily.com. I check my e-mail often, and try to reply within a day or two. If you don't get a reply in a couple days, please write me again, as something must have gone wrong in cyberspace. Also, be sure to add my email address to your "safe senders" list so that any response doesn't end up in your spam folder. If you prefer to speak with me, though, you can telephone me: 602-359-3875. But, since we aren't always home, and I tend to not answer the phone during schooltime, please be patient and leave a message. When I am home, I do try to return calls within a day or two depending on what's happening in our life. Evenings are probably best to reach me. We do travel so it can sometimes be a week or two until we return and I get those phone messages (but I almost always have a laptop and email when we travel). Please leave a message telling me what the call is about so that I can have the information available before I call you back. If you need to reach me the day of a play, you can call: 602-359-3875. I turn off the cell when the show starts (most theatres require this). While I do carry my cell phone with me at other times, since I don't carry the paperwork with all the information, realize that I likely won't have the answer at hand. There are simply too many events for me to remember prices, dates, times, venues, etc, so I don't to even try (and my brain thanks me)! Email: jan@theparsonsfamily.com
8. Will I receive tickets? Most of the theatre do NOT issue individual tickets (the exceptions are Arizona Opera and Broadway Palm, see FAQ #9 below). I have a Contract and/or Group Invoice showing that I paid for x number of tickets for all of us. So what does this mean for you.......see related FAQ # 10
9. Exception to Will I receive tickets?: The exceptions to FAQ#8 is Broadway Palm West and Arizona Opera. They do issue individual tickets, which is the reason that you MUST send me a self-addressed stamped envelope. I will use this envelope to return your tickets to you. If you don't send an envelope, or don't put a stamp on the envelope, you will need to make arrangements with me to pick up your tickets. I can no longer send tickets that don't include a stamped envelope (it got too expensive for me as there are typically a couple dozen families attending, and remember, I don't make a profit coordinating these field trips).
10. If I don't have tickets, how do I get into the theatre? I have a group invoice, so we will meet at the theatre at least 30 minutes before the show starts, to gather as a group and be ready to go into the theatre when they begin seating. Please check in with me so that I know that you have arrived. I have found that people are able to locate my identical twin daughters in a crowd easier than finding me. They always dress alike, and their photographs can be seen at http://www.theparsonsfamily.com . If you arrive late, it's possible that we've already gone into the theatre. Let the theatre company representative know that you are in Jan Parsons' Homeschool group. I always let them know if there are families that haven't arrived when we go into the theatre. It is at their sole discretion, however, on when and where you are seated. Most of the companies fill the theatre from front to back, row by row, so it's probable that you will not sit with our group if you arrive late. They may choose to seat other groups before you. If the show has already begun, they may require you to wait for an appropriate time so as not to disturb others, meaning that you may miss some of the show. Be sure to plan for traffic delays and also for parking, particularly for shows in downtown Phoenix where construction and finding a parking lot can add several minutes to a commute.
11. Bounced Checks This is my 10th year of coordinating field trips and while it was 7 years before I got a bounced check, the sad news is that in the last three years I've had quite a few. If your check bounces I will expect you make good on the check and to reimburse me for any charges that my bank charges me, including checks that I wrote to the theatre using the funds deposited from you that subsequently bounce. I don't make a profit off the plays, and I won't ask for a profit off the unfortunate event of a bounced check, but I do expect you to make me whole again. I have a bank account that is used only for field trip monies. Everyone's checks are deposited into that account and then I turn around and pay the theatre for the entire group. If your bouncing check causes the theatre check to bounce, it's bad, we could all lose our reservation, and it's expensive for you. Please don't send me a check that you aren't sure will clear. If you bounce a check and then ignore my requests for you to reimburse me, please be aware that Arizona law has penalties for this and I have and will continue to take the necessary steps to collect. Otherwise, your bounced check amount and the bank fees would come out of my family's budget....and that's not ok. I don't like having to take these steps, but if I hadn't done so twice last year, I would have been out such a large amount that I'd no longer coordinate these plays, as it would be too costly for me. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.
12. Coming soon! If you have a question that I haven't answered let me know!