Finding the Best Seats in 2025
From Managing Director Joe Gfaller
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Hello Clear Space friends and fans!
It’s hard to believe that we are already getting ready to start my second full season here at Clear Space – and that single tickets for the 2025 season are already on sale!
If you missed the chance to subscribe before our 2025 subscriptions sold out, you may be trying to figure out how to get the best seats for your favorite shows in the year ahead. I’d like to take this chance to help by sharing a few pieces of advice to help you still land great seats before they get snatched up. Hopefully these suggestions help ensure you have a fantastic experience in the best seats possible for our 2025 season!
1) Most productions have performances that are not part of a subscription package.
That means that for those performances, the best seats haven’t been snapped up by subscribers already! Which performances aren’t included in subscriptions, you ask? For our winter, spring, and fall shows look for Thursday morning 11am or Thursday evening 7pm shows. For our summer shows, none of the evening performances on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights are included in subscriptions, so those are all great options to find single tickets. We also have two productions (Hairspray in the summer and A Christmas Carol over the holidays) with Saturday matinees at 2pm. Those matinees aren’t included in subscription packages, so they are also great performances to look at for great seats.
2) Some productions aren’t included in a subscription package.
Our Clear Space Gives Back production (this year, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) is never included in our subscription packages. Neither are our two Spotlight on Young Performers productions (this year Beetlejuice JR in the spring and Annie in the fall). That means these shows are a clean slate. Some subscribers do add them to their packages, but many good seats remain available for all three when tickets for each go on sale.
3) Some seats are slightly raised, which can give you a better view.
If the first row is already sold out and you want to ensure you have a good view, I’d suggest either getting seats on the aisle of the further rows back or getting seats in rows that are raised up on risers. That allows you to be sure you can see over the heads of the folks in front of you – and can also sometimes mean a little more leg room! In the center section, seats in rows E and F are up on the risers. In the side section, seats in row C are up on the riser.
4) Seats in our side sections face in towards the thrust, not up towards the proscenium.
If you haven’t been to Clear Space before or to a theatre that performs in three-quarters thrust (with audiences on three sides of the stage), our side sections can look confusing when you buy tickets online. For starters, the seat numbers aren’t continuous like they are in the center. House right, they are all odd numbers. House left, they are all even numbers. That means if you buy seats B6, B8, and B10, they are right next to each other. Also, the seats in each of those rows face the thrust. So all seats in row A on the side form one line of seating. We hate it when someone accidentally buys seats A 10, B10, and C10 together, thinking they are next to each other when they are actually in three different rows. Please don’t let that happen to you!
5) Aisle seats and front row seats give better views, but are also deal with more traffic.
It’s true that most people prefer sitting in the front row or sitting on an aisle. However, everyone is different. It’s important to be aware that if you are on an aisle, depending on the show, actors may use that aisle for entrances or exits – or even for important moments in the show. In short: you can enjoy more leg room and unobstructed views in these seats but you also need to be mindful to pull your feet in and not to leave purses or drinks on the floor so that you don’t accidentally trip an actor. Similarly, some people love the aisle seats right by the doors to the lobby in rows C and D because it makes it easier to make a quick beeline for the restrooms at intermission. Just know that the trade off there is that it can also get pretty crowded around those seats before the show starts because you are right on the main doorway to the lobby as the rest of the patrons are coming in.
6) Obstructions can happen.
Even the best laid plans to find a perfect seat can be hampered for one moment of a performance. That’s the nature of theatre in three-quarters thrust. Directors work to make sure that audiences on all three sides can enjoy every moment of a show. But sometimes the sight lines from your seat can be blocked for a moment by a piece of furniture or an actor. Thank you for your understanding when those moments happen!
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Is there a perfect seat? For some people, perhaps! But maybe not for everyone. After all, each show is different, so the experience of sitting in the same seat changes based on how each show is staged. If you’re planning to join us multiple times this year, my advice is to try a few different seats out for size to see which seats work best for you. Then, in a future year, when you do subscribe, you’ll have a much better sense of what seat is perfect for you all season long!
We can’t wait to welcome you to the 2025 season!
Joe Gfaller
Managing Director
clear space theatre company