Throngs of New York and New Jersey-area teachers will descend on Times Square Saturday afternoon, Nov. 16, for the Washington Mutual Bank sponsored "Spotlight on Teachers."

This special event, which has distributed thousands of free theatre tickets — an estimated 28,000 — to teachers, was designed to pay homage to those who teach in the metropolitan area. Washington Mutual bought every Broadway ticket available for matinee performances on Nov. 16; because of this unprecedented occurrence, those heading to the TKTS booth in Times Square may be out of luck.

David LeShay, director of communications for Theatre Development Fund (TDF), which runs the discount ticket booth, said, "There will probably not be any Broadway tickets available at TKTS for the Saturday, November 16 matinee, but there will be a full selection of Off-Broadway productions for sale." LeShay also added, "We hope Washington Mutual's 'Spotlight on Teachers Program' will inspire those thousands of teachers from the tri state area to share the joy of live performance with all of their students."

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The unique promotion was also designed to help introduce The Washington Mutual Bank to the metropolitan area. Randy Grimm, a group manager for Washington Mutual, told Yahoo! News, "Teachers are one of the most important factors influencing the quality of a student's education, so we created a unique initiative to shine the spotlight on New York and New Jersey teachers." Teachers received the tickets through a nomination process. Anyone who wished to do so was able to nominate a K-12 teacher from a public, private or charter school for a pair of tickets. Nomination forms were available by visiting any local Washington Mutual bank or by downloading the form at www.wamucommunities.com.

—By Andrew Gans