Here’s the thing about a ticket
Once I purchase one it is mine. I own that seat for the duration of the performance if I choose to use it. I can give it to a colleague, neighbor or friend. Because, you see, I bought it and it is mine. If I choose to take the ticket and use it as starter for my fireplace that is my choice. It is mine because I bought it. I own it.
This is basic commerce.
Not everyone I know understands this. You simply cannot resell my seat. You cannot offer what is no longer yours (It’s mine. I bought it.) to someone else. It’s double dipping. It’s unethical. Even if the pain you experience by seeing my empty chair (if I’ve chosen not to use it) pushes you to the brink of thinking that you can make money twice off of that chair; you are wrong.
That seat is Mama’s seat. And Mama is going to be mad if she gets to the 7:00 curtain at 6:59 and you’ve sold her seat to another person.
So, understand, promoters and resident companies and rental clients and producers, there is only one ticket for that seat* in my house.
*unless, of course, you have worked out in advance with the management and box office, AND notified the purchasing public in writing in advance that they must be in their seats X number of minutes before curtain or their above mentioned transaction is null and void.
And, quite frankly, I’m not sure that that is good practice either. Ethics, anyone?
