Theatre seat numbering: rows, aisles and sections
Updated
A ticket says "Stalls, row F, seat 12". Behind that line are a few conventions that make a house easy to sell and easy to find your way in.
Sections first
Split the house into the areas a buyer recognises: stalls (or orchestra), circle or balcony, boxes. Each section is priced and sold separately, so it needs its own name on the chart and on the ticket. Large sections are often split again into left, centre and right blocks by the aisles.
Rows from the stage
Rows are counted from the stage outward, so the first row is the one closest to it. Letters (A, B, C) are the most common choice; many European houses use roman numerals (I, II, III) instead. Some theatres skip letters that are easily confused, such as I and O, so check your existing tickets before you change anything.
Each section usually restarts its row count. Row A of the balcony is the balcony's front row, not a continuation of the stalls.
Seats along the row
The simplest scheme numbers seats from one side of the row to the other, 1, 2, 3 …, starting at the same side in every row. Some houses split the numbers around a centre aisle, with odd numbers on one side and even on the other. Both work; what matters is that the scheme is the same in every row of a section, so an usher can point to a seat without looking at the chart.
Curves and aisles
Stalls rows are often curved so every seat faces the stage. Keep seat numbers running along the curve, not across it, and leave the aisle gaps out of the count so seat 7 is always next to seat 8.
Accessible and special seats
Mark wheelchair places, companion seats and restricted-view seats directly on the chart. Buyers who need them look for them first, and staff need to see them before they sell the seats around them.
One chart for the box office and the web
Keep one master chart. The same seat should carry the same section, row and number at the box office, on your website and on the printed ticket. A seat map that exports with a stable ID for every seat makes that possible.
How seatorio helps
seatorio starts a theatre plan with the stage in place, numbers rows with roman numerals or letters and seats from the left or the right, bends whole sections into curves, and lets you mark wheelchair, accessibility and restricted-view seats. Every seat in the exported SVG keeps a stable ID, its section and its status.
Planning for theatres? See seatorio for theatres and the theatre seating chart template.