ABOUT THEATERENGINE

TheaterEngine: a database and marketing app for the live arts. What is it and how can it help you and your theater?

Our Mission

TheaterEngine’s mission is to make the performing arts a more accessible entertainment choice for people everywhere, while also creating a digital infrastructure of artists, production companies, venues and performing arts resources that will make the creation of live performance easier for everyone.

What is TheaterEngine?

For artists, TheaterEngine is an online promotional tool for individuals, production companies and venues working in the performing arts. It is also a database containing all past shows and show information entered into it. With enough information, TheaterEngine becomes a robust tool for finding the people and resources in any given area with links to their past and current work.


For audiences, TheaterEngine is an online resource for information about upcoming shows, performing artists, production companies, and venues in any given area.

How does it work?

You create your own content (and we can help).


Live performance is everywhere. So much is happening all the time. It is impossible for a news outlet to capture everything themselves, and it can be pretty difficult to find a show when you’re looking for one. Thankfully technology has provided us some excellent tools to solve this problem. TheaterEngine hopes to apply these tools to the performing arts industry.


TheaterEngine is an empty box. A box designed entirely for the purpose of promoting and displaying the content that YOU put into it. TheaterEngine allows individual artists and companies to create their own Profile Pages and Show Pages that contain all of their promotional information. With this information we can help you connect more easily to the artists, companies, and audiences in your area, or wherever you go.

Ok great!
But... how does it work?

TheaterEngine is made up of these core pages


  • HOME PAGE

  • USER DASHBOARD

  • ARTIST PAGE

  • COMPANY PAGE

  • VENUE PAGE

  • SHOW PAGE


Home Page

The Home Page is your portal to find upcoming shows in any given area. Use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for shows, artists, companies or venues already in our database. Use the search bar below to change locations.


User Dashboard

Creating a FREE account gives you a User Dashboard. This page will track all of your participation on TheaterEngine as a theatergoer, and from here, you can do these things


  1. Create an Artist Page

  2. Create a Company Page

  3. Create past Show Pages

  4. “Follow” Artist, Company, and Venue Pages


Artist Page

When a show is created on TheaterEngine, we ask you to list your credits (the people responsible for making the show happen, on stage and off). Those credits either create new Artist Pages in our system, or apply to an Artist Page already in our system. These Artist Pages will be unclaimed. An unclaimed artist page will continue to collect credits that are applied to it, creating a digital resume of that artists’ work. An unclaimed artist page is editable by anyone with a TheaterEngine User account. TheaterEngine monitors these pages to make sure that only appropriate content is added to the page. All content changes to pages are tracked, so anyone abusing their editing privileges will be removed from the site. When a User signs up for TheaterEngine, they may create a new artist page, or claim an existing artist page. Owning and managing your artist page is FREE. Once an artist page is claimed it is no longer editable by anyone except the User linked to the page. A User can only have one artist page. Your artist page represents you as an individual artist (not as a company or a group – those are different!). Your artist page will continue to track any credits associated to you, and you can add additional past credits yourself. However, you can only add credits or create shows if the showtimes have elapsed. Only the company responsible for a production can add future shows, more on that later. Over time TheaterEngine will continue to provide more tools for you to promote yourself and your work.


An Artist Page is made up of these parts


  • GENERAL INFORMATION

    A description or bio of the artist, profile and banner picture, and any external links including website and social media links.


  • CREDITS TAB

    A list of all production credits and/or staff credits associated to this artist with direct links to the associated pages. Any credits connected to Future Show Pages will be highlighted and displayed prominently on the credits tab


  • MEDIA TAB

    Any media (photos, videos, or audio) either uploaded to the artist page, or tagged to the artist page.


  • TICKETS TAB

    The tickets tab only exists if the artist has credits connected to a Future Show Page with tickets for sale. The Tickets Tab will display all pertinent ticketing information with links to buy tickets. As showtimes elapse, the information regarding those showtimes will disappear. Once all showtimes have elapsed the Tickets Tab on the Artist Page will also disappear.


Company Page

Company Pages can be created in our database whenever any User gives credit to a company when creating a show. This will create an unclaimed Company Page. An unclaimed Company Page will continue to collect credits that are applied to it, creating a production history of that company’s work. An unclaimed Company Page is editable by anyone with a TheaterEngine User account. TheaterEngine monitors these pages to make sure that only appropriate content is added to the page. All content changes to pages are tracked, so anyone abusing their editing privileges will be removed from the site. When a User signs up for TheaterEngine, they may create a new Company Page, or claim an existing Company Page. Owning and managing your Company Page is FREE. Once a Company Page is claimed it is no longer editable by anyone except the Owner of the page and any User that the owner has given “permission” (editing ability) to. A User can own, or have permission to an unlimited number of Company Pages. A Company Page can have an unlimited number of permission holders.


With a Company Page you can now


  1. Create Future Shows

  2. Create (or claim) Venue Pages

  3. Create a Ticketing Account (coming soon!)


A Company Page is made up of these parts


  • GENERAL INFORMATION

    Location of the company, a description or bio of the company, profile and banner picture, links to venues that the company manages, and any external links including website and social media links.


  • CREDITS TAB

    A list of all production credits associated to the company with direct links to the associated Show Pages. Any Future Show Pages will be highlighted and displayed prominently on the credits tab.


  • PEOPLE TAB

    Company pages allow you to list any people associated to your company on the People Tab. Credits added to the People Tab will either create new unclaimed Artist Pages to TheaterEngine’s system, or they will apply to existing Artist Pages.


  • MEDIA TAB

    Any media (photos, videos, or audio) either uploaded to the Company page, or tagged to the Company page.


  • TICKETS TAB

    The tickets tab only exists if the company has credits connected to a Future Show page with tickets for sale. The Tickets Tab will display all pertinent ticketing information with links to buy tickets. As showtimes elapse, the information regarding those showtimes will disappear. Once all showtimes have elapsed the Tickets Tab on the Company Page will also disappear.


Venue Page

Venue Pages are created in our system whenever any User assigns a Venue to a Show Page either past or future. This will create an unclaimed Venue Page. An unclaimed Venue Page will continue to collect credits and display upcoming productions of any show applied to it. An unclaimed Venue Page is editable by anyone with a TheaterEngine User account. TheaterEngine monitors these pages to make sure that only appropriate content is added to the page. All content changes to pages are tracked, so anyone abusing their editing privileges will be removed from the site. A User wishing to create or claim a Venue Page, must first create a Company Page. The Company Page acts as the administrator of the Venue Page. A Company Page can manage an unlimited amount of Venues Pages, but a Venue Page can only be managed by a single Company Page. Once a Venue Page is assigned to a managing Company (either by being claimed or created by the Company Page), it can only be edited by Users with permissions to the managing Company Page. Editing authority of a Venue Page descends from the Company Page that manages it. Anyone with editing permissions to the managing Company Page will automatically have permissions to any Venue Pages managed by that company. Owning and managing a Venue page is FREE.


Venue vs. Theater On TheaterEngine, the VENUE is the building with a physical address. The THEATER is the performance space inside the venue. A Venue Page can contain an unlimited amount of theaters. When adding showtimes to a future show, if a Venue has multiple theaters the User will be asked to select both the venue and the theater, so that patrons know exactly where to go.


A Venue Page is made up of these parts


  • GENERAL INFORMATION

    Location of the venue, a description or bio of the venue, profile and banner picture, a link to the company that manages the venue, and any external links including website and social media links.


  • CREDITS TAB

    A list of all production credits associated to the venue with direct links to the associated Show Pages. Any Future Show Pages will be highlighted and displayed prominently on the credits tab.


  • MEDIA TAB

    Any media (photos, videos, or audio) either uploaded to the Venue page, or tagged to the Venue page.


  • THEATERS TAB

    The “Theaters” tab hosts general information pertaining to the individual performance spaces, or “theaters” within a venue.


  • TICKETS TAB

    The tickets tab only exists if the venue has future showtimes connected to it. The Tickets Tab will display all pertinent ticketing information with links to buy tickets. As showtimes elapse, the information regarding those showtimes will disappear. Once all showtimes have elapsed the Tickets Tab on the Venue Page will also disappear.


Show Page

A Show Page is the unique page representing a particular production with all relevant information pertaining to that production. TheaterEngine recognizes a difference between future show pages and past show pages in regards to who has access to create, edit, and what information is displayed.


PAST and FUTURE SHOW PAGES


Past Show Page A Past Show Page is any production for which all showtimes have elapsed and tickets are no longer for sale. Information regarding past showtimes is substantially less sensitive than information regarding current or future shows, so there are fewer restrictions.


Anyone with a TheaterEngine User account can create and edit past show pages. TheaterEngine monitors these pages to make sure that only appropriate content is added to the page. All content changes to pages are tracked, so anyone abusing their editing privileges will be removed from the site.


Past show pages only display information that is relevant to an archived production, therefore TheaterEngine will not request or display any information regarding ticket purchase or specific showtime information.


Future Show Page A Future Show Page is any production that has upcoming showtimes. A Future Show Page has information that pertains to ticket purchases, exact times, dates, and locations of performances. This is sensitive information that TheaterEngine only allows those responsible for a production to create and manage. We do this by asking Users to create a Company Page that represents either the production company responsible for an upcoming show, or the presenting company responsible for the show. Only Users with “permissions” to that Company Page can create or edit information for a Future Show Page. If a Show Page has multiple companies assigned to it, (either co-production companies, or presenting companies) all Users who have “permissions” to any of the assigned companies will have the ability to edit the Show Page.


PRODUCTION COMPANY vs. PRESENTING COMPANY

Production Company The Production Company is the company responsible for the creation and execution of a show. They manage all elements of the creative process. All Show Pages on TheaterEngine are required to have a Production Company listed. TheaterEngine also allows for an unlimited number of Production Companies to be associated to a Show Page, as many are often involved with the execution of a single show.


Presenting Company The Presenting Company is most often a venue or a group who is hosting a number of performances of any given show at a particular venue. They have little or nothing to do with the creative process, but are often responsible for many administrative and promotional aspects of a show, and are often the managers of a particular venue. The Presenting Company or Presenting Theater is most commonly seen with touring productions


A Show Page is made up of these parts


  • GENERAL INFORMATION

    Title, production company, Venue(s) with addresses, first and last performance dates, Key Credits, description of the show, and any external links including the official website and social media links.


  • CREDITS TAB

    A list of all credits assigned to the production in the following categories “On Stage”, “Off Stage”, and “Other” credits. Each Credit represents an individual artist and will link to the appropriate artist page. Any credits whose Artist Pages have a profile picture will be featured prominently at the top of the Credits Tab. When adding credits, “Key Credits” are any credits that you would like to feature in the “general information” section of the Show Page, and that you would like to appear listed above the other credits. Credits with photos will appear above Key Credits without photos, but otherwise Key Credits will always be listed first.


  • MEDIA TAB

    Any media (photos, videos, or audio) either uploaded to the Show Page, or tagged to the artist page.


  • TICKETS TAB

    The tickets tab only exists if the artist has credits connected to a Future Show page with tickets for sale. The Tickets Tab will display all pertinent ticketing information with links to buy tickets. As showtimes elapse, the information regarding those showtimes will disappear. Once all showtimes have elapsed the Tickets Tab on the Artist Page will also disappear.

What does it cost to use TheaterEngine?

Nothing. All of our pages are FREE to create and manage.

How does TheaterEngine make money?

TheaterEngine is currently Beta testing the functionality of our services to the artist community. As the platform becomes more stable, we will begin offering additional services that users on-site, or businesses off-site may or may not wish to pay for. TheaterEngine will NOT sell your personal information. The privacy and security of our Users is our highest priority.

Have any thoughts or questions? We would love to hear them! Please email Dominic Spillane at

hello@theaterengine.com
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