Five months in, Philadelphia’s TKTS booth promises a hopeful future for the city’s theater community
While some theaters are yet to see a big bump in sales through TKTS, they see the booth as a means to bolster the city's vibrant theater culture
In November, the TKTS booth made its way to Philadelphia after decades of serving discounted Broadway tickets and low-cost shows along London’s West End.
Since the booth’s debut at the Independence Visitor Center, the discount theater ticket service has helped draw revenue for theaters across the Philly region.
Maita Soukup, the vice president of experience and engagement at the Visitor Center, said the goal behind establishing the TKTS booth with New York’s Theater Development Fund, Visit Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp., was to increase accessibility to the arts, bolster awareness, and increase ticket purchases.
In New York City, the discount service has been a favored spot for last-minute theater tickets since 1973. A second TKTS booth opened in London in 1980. The Philadelphia booth is the second one in the U.S.
Through it, theatergoers can purchase same-day tickets for shows at up to 50% off. Based on recent ticket sales and Visitor Center website traffic, Soukup said the formula has proven to work in Philadelphia.
“They have been doing it for over 51 years in New York, and we’re just grateful to take both the brand and operational knowledge, and apply it to make something really special here in Philadelphia,” she said. “We look forward to it growing and amplifying over time.”
In Philadelphia, TKTS has partnered with 36 nonprofit arts organizations and theater groups, including Arden Theatre Company, 1812 Productions, EgoPo Classic Theater, and InterAct Theatre Company, among others.
Theaters can choose which shows, performances, seats, and ticket types they want to provide at a discount through TKTS.
As of March 31, the TKTS box office has generated $30,500 in ticket revenue. The booth’s daily listing webpage has attracted 95,041 views. TKTS charges a $1 for every ticket sold and the rest is transferred to the theaters each month.
While Philly tourism and theater attendance have been down compared to 2019, Amy Murphy, Arden Theatre’s managing director, said TKTS is already paying dividends. The Old City theater has sold more than 700 tickets to recent productions through the service.
Many of the purchasers are local, but Murphy said there have been attendees from states as far away as Minnesota, Maryland, Texas, and Arkansas.
“That’s very exciting for us. We’re reaching people that may otherwise not know about us,” she said.
While Quintessence Theatre has only registered 71 sales through TKTS so far, its marketing and communications director, Carol Flannery, said the booth has been a “gift from God” in just a few short months.
For the past 15 years, Flannery said it’s been a struggle to attract and maintain a consistent theater audience. Before the TKTS booth arrived, discount theater ticket sellers like Gold Star and TodayTix promised to be a boon to the theater community but soon stopped operations in Philly.
Services like Gold Star and TodayTix “didn’t step up in my mind. All the work was on us,” Flannery said. ”But the genius of TKTS and what Visit Philly and the Visitor Center are doing is that it’s focused on Philly.”
Quintessence’s collaboration with the TKTS booth makes her hopeful. “It’s a win for Visit Philly, the Visitor Center, and a win for the bigger arts community,” she said. “It’s especially perfect for us because we’re in Mount Airy. We’re not in Center City, so it takes a little bit of city knowledge to find us.”
In time, Flannery said the TKTS booth could play an integral role in bringing Philly theaters back to pre-COVID numbers. But more broadly, she expects Philly arts to become a more recognizable part of the city’s identity, similar to the Rocky Steps and Liberty Bell.
“We want to be at the top of the food chain, and TKTS helps us do that,” Flannery said.
As the tourism season heats up and the TKTS booth becomes a more well-known resource, Wilma managing director Leigh Goldenberg believes the TKTS booth will sway visitors to add a local production to their travel itinerary.
“The arts are an integral part of what’s happening in the city, and I think the TKTS booth is one of the many ways we can really showcase that,” Goldenberg said. “I hope that we continue to invest in the awareness of the booth, and that it leads to success for all of our organizations.”
As important as it is to draw Philly tourists to the theaters, Deb Block of Theatre Exile is hopeful the new initiative and future promotions will encourage Philadelphians to take pride in their own arts community, too.
Block said she’s “tired” of the city’s theater community being touted as its “best-kept secret.” In her eyes, Philly needs to attract a new generation of theatergoers, and she’s confident the TKTS booth is a step in that direction.
“In and outside our Philadelphia, people have to remember that live theater is a unique, wonderful, and exciting experience,” Block said. “And the fact the TKTS booth has done all those things makes me optimistic that it’s going to happen. And that’s pretty exciting.”