Off-Broadway theatre

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

An "Off-Broadway production" is a production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue and adheres to related trade union and other contracts. Shows that premiere Off-Broadway are sometimes subsequently produced on Broadway.

Originally referring to the location of a venue and its productions on a street intersecting Broadway in Manhattan's Theater District, the hub of the theatre industry in New York, the term later became defined by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers as a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, or a specific production that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts.

Previously, regardless of the size of the venue, a theatre was not considered Off-Broadway if it was within the "Broadway Box" (extending from 40th to 54th Street, and from west of Sixth Avenue to east of Eighth Avenue, and including Times Square and 42nd Street). The contractual definition was changed to encompass theatres meeting the standard, which benefits these theatres because of the lower minimum required salary for Actors' Equity performers at Off-Broadway theatres as compared with the salary requirements of the union for Broadway theatres. The adoption of the 499-seat rule occurred after a one-day strike in January, 1974. Examples of Off-Broadway theatres within the Broadway Box are the Laura Pels Theatre and The Theater Center.

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