We have a new theatre space that we intend to continue using as a flexible, reserved-seating space. It's usually in the same basic setup, but slightly different for each show. Our first show this season is already done and we are now building the seating chart for the second show, which is just different enough that we need a whole new seat map. Ideally, I would like to create one Facility that we can use for the many looks that the theatre may take, rather than adding a new facility for each show.
Do any other organizations have a reserved seat theatre used in a flexible way? Can anyone suggest a way we can be reserved and flexible at the same time?
I would like to build this as a new screen on the existing facility map. I thought managing the houses might be the simplest by using a "kill hold" for all seats on the extra screens at Facility Manager-> Map Painter level, and setting the desired map as the default under the Facility tab. I have been told this may cause problems with our reporting on past events.
It's also been suggested that we use one open block of seats, then manage the available seats through a kill hold, which would give us the flexibility we are looking for. My only concern with this method is how seat locations would be labeled, as seating is reserved in this space.
Am I not seeing an obvious solution or pitfall? Thank you for any help you can give me!
Hi Kevin,
I think I understand what you're trying to do.
What I would suggest is having a facility and a standard map that is the largest/most open space that you will ever have. Then make a variety of hold code maps (blacking out the unwanted seats) for the most commonly used variations of your theatre. Those can easily be applied in Season Maintenance on a performance by performance basis. For any performances using a more unusual set up you can apply the closest hold code map and make individual changes where necessary.
I can't remember how to link to the online help system but if you search for Season Maintenance Hold Codes you should find more details about this.
Does that sound like it would work for you? Perhaps there are other suggestions from the forum folks?
Good luck!
Hi Beth - Thank you for your response! That is along the lines of what I was thinking, and I love your idea of standardized hold code maps! The concern I have with this method is the labeling of rows and seats. This is of particular importance for our organization because another box office sells our single tickets, so we want to make the seat charts as easy to understand as possible. (Like, if the show removes seats 101-104 in each row, we probably want the aisle to still be labeled 101, not 105).
Since writing this, I had the idea to make a seating chart that doesn't actually look like the theatre will. We would use the blackout hold to make the Seat Map match what we want in the theatre. This isn't ideal for our ticket sellers, but it seems to be the most flexible. Unless anyone else has another idea?