Guide
What it costs a community theatre to sell a ticket
Volunteer houses ask what tickets cost to sell, and whether cheap means a monthly fee or a cut of the door. Places charges nothing until a reserved seat sells, then one dollar.
The search is usually “cheapest tickets.” The real question is what the house pays to put a production on sale.
A monthly subscription is rent you pay whether Friday sells out. A percentage of face is a tax on a $15 student seat and a $40 Saturday. A dollar on a reserved seat is a door charge. Those are different deals. Say which one you are looking at.
The Places number
Tools are free. You only pay at the door.
- Reserved seat: $1 to Places.
- General admission: free for small events for a limited time.
- Comps and free tickets: $0. A house seat is not a sale.
If the spring production never sells a reserved seat, we never make a dime. That is the deal I would want if it were my kids on that stage.
What this page will not do
It will not call Places the cheapest. It will not invent a rival’s fee. It will not turn Eventbrite into a math worksheet. Those pages already exist elsewhere, and they are not written for a volunteer house committee.
If you need a named vendor next to the $1 line, that is Compare. The calculator starts at a $25 ticket because that is the middle of the community-theatre band. It is not a slogan.
Cheap is also the week of
A low fee with a page that dies in tech week is not cheap. The volunteer rebuilding will-call on a laptop is not cheap. Money that arrives after strike is not cheap when the lighting bill is due.
Those nights are the ticket page, the volunteer at the table, and who holds the money.
Put the show on sale
How a community theatre sells tickets is the order of work. Start tickets is the form. Name the production first.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Places charge to sell a community theatre ticket?
- Tools are free. Places earns a dollar when a reserved seat sells. General admission is free for small events for a limited time. Comps and free tickets are $0.
- Is there a monthly fee?
- No. If the production never sells a reserved seat, Places does not earn.
- How do we start if we need cheap tickets for a small house?
- Start tickets and name the production. General admission is the default house. Do not open a compare page to do the arithmetic.