Between unemployment, the roiling stock market and bad news about the economy, there are plenty of things to be worried about.

In stressed-out times like these, who couldn't use a little entertainment?

But if pricey tickets for concerts, theater, ballgames and other live performances seem out of reach, think again.

With a little effort and ingenuity, you can still find good seats without busting the budget.

"With the recession, (ticket) deals are there for those willing to look and wait," said Dr. Stephen Happel, Arizona State University economics professor emeritus, who specializes in the ticket resale industry.

Here are some how-tos:

Just ask

It never hurts to ask. We were at the Seattle Art Museum earlier this summer with our post-college-age daughter, who was asked about student discounts. I jokingly asked if my husband and I qualified for a student discount. To my shock, the museum staffer said yes and granted each of us $9 entry fees, instead of the usual $15.

Granted, I feel less thrilled about taking discounts from a nonprofit arts group than a big concert venue or a major league sports arena. But I didn't turn it down, either.

Tap your locals

Use your local membership cards while traveling. For instance, the Sacramento Zoo and the Crocker Art Museum have reciprocal agreements with hundreds of their counterparts – zoos, aquariums, museums, art galleries – in cities across the country. In some cases, admission is free; in others, it's discounted.

Last summer, for instance, we got free admission to San Francisco's de Young Museum by showing our Crocker card.

And just a suggestion: If you're getting in free, it wouldn't hurt to drop a few dollars in the gift shop as a thank-you.

Military breaks

If you're active-duty military or a family member, don't overlook discounts. Some movie theaters and sports teams, for instance, offer ticket discounts.

And a soon-to-expire summer deal: About 1,500 museums across the country – including more than 120 in California – offer free museum entrance for up to five family members of military personnel through Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5. The summerlong "Blue Star Museum" program is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. For details: www.nea.gov/bluestarmuseums

Raising the curtain

Regular theater tickets can be pricey, but there are ways to buy them cheaper.

Many theaters offer last-minute rush tickets, while large cities like New York and San Francisco have stand-alone kiosks that sell half-price, day-of-show seats. You can also sign up for some of the online deal websites, like DealSaver, Groupon or LivingSocial, that occasionally offer local theater bargains. And sometimes, just buying at the box office can be a real saver.

In San Francisco, we got a sweet deal on four seats for "Billy Elliott." On the Orpheum Theatre's website, most seats were over a $100, more than we wanted to spend. At the half-price TIX Bay Area office in Union Square, day-of-show tickets were only $66 but were sold out by the time we reached the window. So we showed up at the Orpheum box office two hours ahead of the show, and were able to buy four seats for only $40 apiece. With no service fee, they were a huge knockdown from the original cost on the theater's website.

In Sacramento, the California Musical Theatre, which runs three venues (Broadway Sacramento, Cosmopolitan Cabaret and Music Circus), offers various ticket discounts:

• Groups of 10 or more can get 10 percent to 20 percent discounts. Season ticketholders, who buy a package of six shows, typically get a 20 percent discount on their seats.

• Student "rush" seats are available two hours before performances. At the Cosmopolitan on K Street, those with student IDs can buy half-price tickets for unsold seats. At the Music Circus, students can snag empty seats – priced up to $59 – for $30, which "works really well for college students," said California Theatre spokeswoman Ellie Koscheski.

• For Broadway productions, most national touring companies offer special deals. Last year's "Rent," for instance, had 20 orchestra seats – at $20 each – for every performance. So-called "Rent-heads" camped out overnight to be first in line, Koscheski said.

To avoid that scenario during next spring's Sacramento run of the Tony-award-winning "Wicked," there will be a lottery for 20 seats – at $25 a ticket – before every performance.

Smaller venues like Sacramento's B Street Theatre offer deals, too. Subscribers who buy a theater series package can save roughly 25 percent. Groups of 10 or more shave off $5 per ticket. For "preview" performances, all tickets are $15, instead of the regular $27 to $35. And on the day of the show, those with student IDs can get in line for $5 standby seats.

Movie deals

Look for deals or special promotions on movie chain websites. For instance, on the Regal Entertainment Group's website, you can get a free popcorn coupon sent to your mobile phone, if you first "Like" the Regal movie chain on Facebook. It also has $2 candy coupons for Monday movies, if you sign up as a member.

Money-saver TV and radio host Clark Howard, who was recently in Sacramento on a national tour for his new book "Living Large in Lean Times," said he and his wife recently got $8 movie tickets for the opening week of "Horrible Bosses." He purchased them at Costco.

Also, some media outlets offer contests or lotteries for movie ticket giveaways. The Sacramento Bee's Buzz Points program, for instance, gives members a chance to win free movie passes, primarily to previews of first-run films.

Online ticket brokers

Gone are the days when Ticketmaster was the only online player. Today, websites with catchy names like StubHub, SeatGeek, FanSnap, Goldstar and ScoreBig compete in the ticket-resale market, which is pegged to hit $4.5 billion in sales by 2012, according to Forrester Research.

"The secondary market has exploded," said Arizona State's Happel, who said ticket brokers report that "you can get in for below face value" at more than half of all U.S. live entertainment events.

Resale sites work in different ways. Some operate like Priceline.com, the name-your-price auction site for hotels, flights and car rentals. Others let you search for specific seats or comparison shop among sites. Some charge convenience fees; others don't.

Looking for four seats to a recent San Francisco Giants game, we first went to the team's official website, where tickets were $83 a person, not to mention a $15 – per person – "convenience" fee. Not willing to plunk down that kind of cash for a baseball game, we moved over to StubHub.com and found four seats at the club level for $60 a person, with only a $6 convenience fee per ticket. Total savings for four Friday night tickets: nearly $130.

Aaron Crowe, a Bay Area freelance journalist who writes the "Value Dad" blog, likes ScoreBig.com, where you name your price but don't know exactly where you'll get seated, other than the section. Last month, Crowe used it to buy two Giants tickets. After researching ticket prices on various venues, he bid $40 and paid $5 above face value, but without the handling fees of StubHub or Ticketmaster. He wound up with lower-level seats in the 25th row for a Giants/Twins weekday afternoon game.

To be sure you're working with a reputable ticket company, check that it's a member of the National Association of Ticket Brokers (www.natb.org).

Person-to-person sales

There's always Craigslist or classified ads by individuals unloading their concert, theater or sports tickets. The only caveat: Meet the seller in a safe location and get a good look at the tickets to be sure they're not counterfeit.

And if nothing else, on the day of the event itself, you can always take your chances with local ticket resellers – better known as scalpers – outside the ballpark, stadium or concert venue. Depending on state and local laws, they may be limited in where they can sell and how much they can charge above a ticket's face value.

When buying from a scalper, the TicketEconomist.com website offers these suggestions: Don't try earlier than 30 minutes before game/show time; be confident and friendly; have a seating map or know where you want to sit; ask what they have at what price; bring cash, but divide up your wad so you have the option of saying "This is all I've got;" don't buy alone (have a friend with you to observe); stay in public, open areas; be prepared to walk away if you're not comfortable or they're not offering what you want.

Last tip: Enjoy the good deals while you can. When the economy improves, Happel said, prices will likely jump.

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Have a personal finance question? Call The Bee's Claudia Buck, (916) 321-1968.

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