The TKTS ticket booths in New York City and London sell Broadway and

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

shows, music, and dance events and West End theatre tickets, respectively, at discounts of 20–50% off the face value.

New York City

New York City's TKTS (which is pronounced phonetically as spelled-out "tee kay tee ess") first opened in 1973 and is operated by the

Theatre Development Fund The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to assisting the theatre industry in New York City. Created in 1968 to help an ailing New York theatre industry, TDF has grown into the nation's largest performing arts nonp ...

. There are four locations: one in

Duffy Square Duffy Square, named Father Duffy Square in 1939, is the northern triangle of Times Square in Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded by 45th Street (Manhattan), 45th and 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th Streets, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway and S ...

(at West 47th Street and Broadway, the north end of Times Square); another in Downtown Brooklyn (Jay Street and Myrtle Avenue Promenade); another at the South Street Seaport in

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

(replacing the office formerly located in the lobby of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

). The Seaport location has reopened after sustaining damage from Hurricane Sandy in the fall of 2012. The fourth location is now located permanently at

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

in the David Rubenstein Atrium.

Main location

Pavilion

The original TKTS pavilion in Times Square was designed by the Manhattan architecture firm of Mayers & Schiff Associates and was inaugurated by Mayor John Lindsay. The city had a capital budget of $5,000 to build the pavilion, a sum that was obviously insufficient. But the city did have an "operating" budget, which the architects used in a plan based on renting, rather than buying, the pavilion's parts. The sales booth was housed in a rented construction trailer; the armature around and on top of the trailer was made from rented scaffolding parts. Interwoven through the armature was a continuous white canvas ribbon emblazoned with the "TKTS" logo. Foundations could not be dug under the booth because the subway structure is just below ground level. To hold down this giant "wind kite" the architects utilized pile driving test weights (also rented). The pavilion received many design awards, including the American Institute of Graphic Arts' Excellence in Communications Graphics; The City Club of New York's

Albert S. Bard Award The City Club of New York is a New York City–based independent, not-for-profit organization. In 1950, ''The New York Times'' called the City Club of New York "a social club with a civic purpose" Originally signing up for a 6-month job he ended up running it for 30 years until his retirement in 2003. The new TKTS Booth and the redevelopment of Father Duffy Square was completed as a partnership between

, Times Square Alliance, and Father Duffy Coalition. The project began in 1999 with an international design competition sponsored the Van Alen Institute to re-design the popular TKTS Discount Booth. The competition's winner, Australian firm Choi Ropiha, reframed the challenge as a broader urban design response to invigorate and provide a center for Times Square. In 2001 Theatre Development Fund commissioned a feasibility study. New York City-based Perkins Eastman developed several approaches, and from those a final design, informed and inspired by the original concept, employed glass as the sole structural component for the steps and the TKTS Booth itself would be a free-standing structure within the glass enclosure. Completing the transformation of Father Duffy Square was the work of the plaza's architect, William Fellows of William Fellows Architects (and now with PKSB Architects). The transformation of the square allows for increased pedestrian traffic and more prominence for Father Duffy's commanding statue. The new TKTS booth for the Times Square location began construction in May 2006 and was completed in October 2008. During this time, the TKTS booth was temporarily relocated to the nearby Marriott Marquis hotel. After many delays, the new TKTS booth opened for business on October 16, 2008, on a renovated Duffy Square, with a ceremony featuring Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

and various Broadway performers. The booth is wedge-shaped, with wide, bleacher-like stairs covering the roof, allowing pedestrians to sit down or climb the steps for a panoramic, unobstructed view of Times Square. According to the Theater Development Fund, the final cost of the new booth was $19 million. TKTS SSSP jeh

Operations

In the 35 years since the booth first opened, there have been 51 million tickets sold. Theaters release tickets for sale by TKTS throughout the day, with more tickets often available within a few hours of showtime. TKTS accepts cash, travelers checks, and credit cards. Waiting times at Duffy Square are normally longer than at the Seaport and Brooklyn locations. Available shows are displayed on large signs near the ticket windows. The booth has twelve sales windows.Hetrick, Adam
"Light the Lights: Duffy Square and TKTS Booth Reopen Oct. 16"
playbill.com, October 16, 2008

Awards and recognition

The TKTS booth in Times Square has won more than two dozen awards for design, lighting, and technical innovation including

American Planning Association The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...

, William H. White Award;

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to ...

(AIA), Institute Honor Awards for Architecture; American Institute of Architects (AIA) New York State Chapter, Best in New York State;

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, Design Award: Best Public Space; and the Engineering Grand Award in

Popular Science ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...

magazine's Best of "What's New 2009". At the time, it was the largest load-bearing glass structure in the world, designed by engineers at Dewhurst Macfarlane using a plastic film called SentryGlas Plus from DuPont.

Controversy and the 50% off claims

The TKTS booth, theater development fund, and Broadway show producers have been criticized for their claimed 50% off ticket prices. The prevailing belief is that TKTS offers 50% off of the normal sale price of a ticket, when in fact, those tickets are often subject to markups through a practice called "Dynamic Pricing". As Broadway producer Ken Davenport states in multiple articles and seminars, dynamic pricing is applied in theaters to help a show get more money for a seat. There have also been several documented case studies where a ticket found at the theater at full price for $89 to ''Kinky Boots'', which is a Ken Davenport production, were sold at the TKTS booth at "50% off" for $75 plus the $5 TDF Fee. The same case studies found similar incidents at ''Chicago'', ''Phantom of the Opera'', and ''Jersey Boys''.

London

London's TKTS, originally known as "The Half Price Ticket Booth", is run by the

Society of London Theatre The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) is an umbrella organisation for West End theatre in London. Founded in 1908, as Society of West End Theatre Managers, then Society of West End Theatre in 1975, changing to its current name in 1994, the (SOLT) ...

on behalf of the theatre industry. Operating since 1980 in the heart of

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...

, this discounted ticket booth offers customers a wide choice of discount theatre tickets on the day of the performance and in advance. There are also full price tickets regularly available through the booth. Tickets can only be bought from TKTS in person. Each TKTS ticket includes a booking fee of £3 on discount theatre tickets and £1 on full price tickets. All profits made from SOLT, including TKTS, go straight back into the industry. TKTS is also accredited by the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) and all ticket sales are made following the STAR code of practice. The Society of London Theatre has licensed the TKTS trademark from the

, but the two organizations are otherwise unrelated.

References

External links

New York TKTS, ''Theatre Development Fund website''London TKTS, ''Official London Theatre website''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tkts West End theatre Theatre in New York City Theatre in London Media and communications in the City of Westminster Media and communications in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Broadway theatre Times Square buildings Theater District, Manhattan