Because these groups (especially reduced by the members who are actually critics and have been invited as such) are not that large and they have empty seats, there is no reason they could not have invited these groups pre-opening if they wanted to save the later tickets and have plenty of seats now.
This is a point that is often overlooked. The voting bodies aren't that large (around 100 in each, I think, as compared to the Tony awards, which is probably 8 times that). There is also significant overlap with the Drama Desk and Outer Critics - there are a fair number of people who belong to both organizations, but obviously only need to be invited once. Not to mention, not every voter comes, especially to Off Broadway productions. Off Broadway shows will sometimes only give voters a single ticket, as opposed to two (the Public does this). And I've also seen where shows get very strict about tickets in terms of when you can come - if you can't make the specific dates, you're out of luck. Generally the invited dates are post-opening, but there is nothing saying they have to be.
Not to mention, it is possible to just invite nominators, and not voters. St. Ann's Warehouse does this. (I've heard the rationale is "well we never win so why bother inviting voters" which seems sort of chicken and egg to me, but whatever.) And there are - what - a handful of nominators for each awards body? |
