How TryBooking Supports Community Theatres

Whether you’re managing ticket sales for shows, memberships or auditions, TryBooking is a powerful + flexible ticketing platform designed to cater for the diverse needs of local theatres.

Community theatres are at the heart of local culture. Bringing together passionate artists and engaged audiences to create compelling live performances, theatre can help entertain, inspire, and strengthen the local community.

Enter stage left TryBooking – the online ticketing platform that revolutionises the way community theatres operate. With a user-friendly interface, powerful features and low-cost pricing, it lets theatre groups streamline their box office and focus on what they do best – putting on amazing shows.

Let’s dive into some of the many ways TryBooking transforms the theatre-going experience for both managers and patrons.

Mobile Box Office And Scanning Apps - The Dynamic Duo

Imagine having the power of a complete Box Office suite right in the palm of your hands.

With TryBooking’s perfect pair of apps, local theatres can seamlessly manage ticket sales, merchandise sales, food and drink and guest check-ins within our free user-friendly apps.

Using our Tap to Pay Box Office app, theatres can take contactless card or cash transactions using just a phone – no additional hardware required.

Ushers or volunteers can also use our Mobile Scanning App [SCANNING APP PAGE] to scan tickets swiftly, providing live updates on the number of tickets scanned – helping streamline managing admission and keeping your venue in compliance with health and safety needs.

Custom Seating Plans

With TryBooking, it’s easy to create a bespoke seating plan to suit a venue of any shape or size. You can quickly designate reserved seats, wheelchair friendly spaces, or go a step further and setup multiple seating areas such as stalls and balconies or designated entry doors for your guests.

The result? A new level of flexibility for your guests, whilst removing the administrative workload of allocating seats for your team.

Seat Holds

For community theatres wanting to enhance the experience for regular patrons and season ticket holders, TryBooking introduces pause for dramatic effect Seat Holds.

This feature allows patrons to reserve their seats for all shows, all season. Theatres can easily assign unique codes for access, ensuring season ticket holders get their preferred seat whilst maintaining control over your booking windows.

Alternatively, if you’re running an event where you’d like to reserve blocks of seats for certain attendees, Seat Holds makes this easy. Setup special access areas for VIPs - and even setup separate pricing for these patrons to maximise your ticket revenue.

Presales using Password Protect

Reward your loyal attendees with access to ticket presales. Our Password Protect feature enables you to offer first access to members, followed by email subscribers, and then the general public, all with ease. You can even setup individual passwords for your most loyal patrons.

Go one step further and setup a presale, in conjunction with an early bird offer, allowing your patrons to save money when they book in advance.

Managing auditions with timed entry

TryBooking isn’t just for managing showtime. Session time slots lets you setup auditions for your production in just a few clicks, letting prospective performers book at a time that suits them.

You can also collect information about those auditioning using Custom Forms, such as their experience or chosen role to audition for – making it super easy to keep everything organised behind the scenes.

Custom theatre branding

Every production and theatre has their own unique flair – that’s why we’ve designed TryBooking so you can be front and centre.

It’s easy to create custom event pages. Add images, showcase sponsor logo’s and share important information to ticket purchasers via the event homepage. Make booking easy for your patrons by using our integrated widgets, so they can book directly from your website.

Make finances simple

Managing finances can be a daunting task, especially when dealing with cash payments or processing card payments from a separate system. TryBooking makes it easy to securely take payments for your event online via credit/debit card, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay. As we mentioned earlier, taking cash payments is now a breeze too, with all booking payments recorded in one place for every event.

Our simple low fees also make it more affordable than ever to run your box office. If you’re selling paid tickets, you can pass on booking fees to your ticket purchasers, or choose to absorb them into your ticket price. And for free events, you can use TryBooking without any cost at all!

We use TryBooking for the reasonable fees mainly. We are a small charity and need to keep a keen eye on costs. It also offers what we need to allow our public to book our events at any time of day or night. Customer service is excellent, and staff are always keen to help sort out any queries.

Secretary, Lane Theatre

Ready to upgrade your theatre experience?

TryBooking isn’t just a tool to manage ticket sales; it’s your 24/7 team member designed to make managing a community theatre a breeze.

Whether your theatre hosts dozens or hundreds, our online booking platform provides the tools and resources you need to offer a West End experience for your patrons.

Get in contact today to book a demo with one of our team to experience all the features first hand, call us on 0333 344 3477 or email team@trybooking.co.uk.

Alternatively, get started managing your shows online today by creating a free account.