Broadway – one of the 40 professional theaters in the Broadway Theater District in Manhattan with 500 or more seats. West End is the London equivalent to Broadway.
off-Broadway — smaller professional theaters (with a capacity from 100 to 499 seats) around and outside the central New York theater district on Broadway and around Times Square. Originally noted for their experimental nature, these theaters have become for the most part, as commercial as their Broadway counterparts.
off-off-Broadway — very small professional theaters with less than 100 seats, which are often set up in lofts, warehouses, or churches and are usually characterized by their experimental scripts and styles of productions
Regional Theatre — also called resident theatre. A term applied to permanent nonprofit professional theatre companies that have established roots outside the major theatre centers. Besides bringing first-rate theatre to their region, they often have programs to nurture local talent and to encourage new plays of special regional interest.
LORT – League of Resident Theaters – a group of 71 regional theaters that are considered the top regional theaters in the country – they are comparable to off-Broadway theaters. The Alliance is a member of LORT.
Repertory Theatre — set group of productions that a theatre company has prepared for performance; also, the practice of alternating performances of different plays of the repertory. A repertory company may perform a work for years.
Resident Company — a non-touring group using the same core of actors for the majority of its plays
Road Company/Touring Company — company of performers who travel with a show that they present in essentially the same way it was originally created in a theatre center such as New York (like many of the shows that play at the Fox)
Touring Show — a play performed by a company at numerous locations (like smaller theaters and high schools)
Dinner Theatre — Theatre presented to an audience that is dining at tables around the performance space; dinner is usually included in the ticket price
Community Theatre — amateur, non-profit theatre that provides an opportunity for the nonprofessional to take an active part in all phases of theatre from acting to design
Summer Stock Theater — a theatrical company that only produces plays during the summer