One Producer in the City: "During the NYMF run, I came across something else about our industry that I have a problem with.
We had a sold out show and we had people on a waiting list, and I was there to witness people being turned away while seats were left empty."
5 comments:
I agree with this. I don't think that it's fair for people to buy a seat and then not show up or show up late. When buying a seat to a show, you are making a promise that you are going to show up. It's not fair that people are being turned away just because a seat was already bought. There are plenty of people who are dying to see a show, and are more than willing to show up on time, they should be able to buy the seat if someone doesn't show. I also don't think that it is right of people to show up late to a performance. It is distracting and it ruins the experience for the late comer and everyone else. I know I hate it when I am getting into a performance I am attending and someone interrupts by coming in late. They shouldn't be seated at all.
I am also not a fan of people coming in to the theatre late while I am trying to get into a show. However, to play devil's advocate here sometimes life happens and people are unable to make it on time but may not be able to afford to repay for a ticket. Should we sell their seats no matter what happens? Even if they showed up on time in order to resell the tickets you would have to resell them before the show started so are we talking 10, 15 minutes? This starts to become a question of blanket regulations for all theatres. I think the possibility of that is unlikely. You also would have to get the permission of the ticketing companies who buy blocks of tickets to sell to their customers. If they can't guarantee seats then people may be less likely to buy from them. Even though I agree with a lot of this article the potential solutions open up a huge bag of conflicts and questions.
I'm on the fence about this one... on one hand I completely agree with Allegra. It is not fair to turn away paying patrons wanting to see the show. But on the other hand, I also see what Devorah is saying.... it is a very controversial argument that I don't think has a "right" answer.
While I do understand that life happens, and people cannot always control what may prevent them from arriving at the theatre on time, it should be accepted that if your ticket is not ripped (or scanned, or collected) by the time the ticket says curtain is, you have given up your seat. At this point, any people on the wait-list should be seated in the vacant spots.
Now, this is completely unnecessary if the show is not "sold out". It should always be the goal to get as many people to see a show as possible, and in order to see the show you must be there.
Also, in some shows it really does not matter, however, in many more intimate shows, it can completely ruin the environment the show has worked on for weeks to create, and thus must be avoided in such situations.
While it is really inconsiderate to buy a seat and then not show up, I accept that life happens. What would be kind is to call the theater box office when you know you will be late. At the same time, the patron has bought the seat for the evening whether they show up or not is irrelevant to some extents. It makes no difference to the management of the theater if you show up or not, it does make a difference to the patrons who need to be turned away and it changes the dynamics of the show. Even if the theater resells the seats 5 minutes to curtain (which they have every right to in my opinion), they should not have to refund the ticket price. Especially if the theater has a no refund policy which many do.
Post a Comment