Burling Lowrey is being unfair to Bob Mondello (The Mail, 10/10). Mondello did Washington City Paper readers a real service in explaining to readers what discounts theaters offer (“Steal This Seat,” 10/3). Most of these discounts don’t involve spending “half a day scrounging around town to buy a ticket at a discount,” but simply involve spending five minutes at Ticketplace or buying tickets in advance—actions that don’t involve much effort.

I followed Mondello’s advice the other week to see the Flying Karamazov Brothers at Arena Stage. I showed up at the box office at 5 on a weeknight. There was no line, and only two other people got half-price tickets. For my $18.50, I got a great seat four rows from the stage. I didn’t feel like a “groundling” in a “lousy theater environment”: I felt like a prince enjoying a play in one of Washington’s nicest theaters.

Silver Spring, Md.