In a theater, where you sit is most of what you are buying. A center orchestra seat and a rear balcony seat are two different experiences at two different prices — which is exactly why performing-arts venues need reserved seating rather than general admission.
Here is how to set up assigned seating for a theater, recital hall, or performing-arts center, and run it without enterprise box-office software.
Map your house as a seating chart
Start by recreating your actual house: orchestra, mezzanine, and balcony sections; rows that may curve toward the stage; and individual seats numbered the way your ushers and patrons already know them. A good reserved seating editor handles curved rows, aisles, and multiple levels — not just a flat grid — so the chart a buyer sees matches the room they walk into.
Label sections and rows consistently with your signage. When a patron holds a ticket that reads "Mezzanine, Row C, Seat 12," the path to that seat should be obvious.
Price by sightline
The whole point of assigned seating is that you can charge for the view. Set section- or seat-level pricing so premium orchestra rows cost more than the upper balcony, and layer in early-bird windows or subscriber and member discounts. For a multi-performance run, you can carry the same chart across dates and adjust pricing per show — opening night priced differently from a weekday matinee.
Hold the seats you cannot sell
Every venue has seats that should never hit public inventory: wheelchair-accessible positions and their companion seats, house seats for the director, press, and cast or crew comps. Place holds on those so they are protected, and release them back to the pool if you end up needing the capacity. This is how you avoid the nightmare of selling a seat you promised to a reviewer.
Seat on the ticket, seat at the door
When a patron buys, the assigned section, row, and seat print on the ticket and its QR code. At the door, QR check-in shows the seat as staff scan each ticket, so ushers can direct patrons without a printed manifest and you get a live, accurate count of who is actually in the house.
What it costs
For a theater, the math is simple: organizers pay the same flat 3% per ticket, capped at $39, with no monthly fee and no seating-map surcharge, and attendees pay a small $0.40 per-seat reserved-seating service fee at checkout. There is no fee to build your seating chart. See the full picture on the pricing page.
Reserved seating turns your house layout into a pricing tool and a check-in tool at once. Read the full reserved seating guide for how it fits with the rest of your event ticketing.