An iPhone app has TKTS information, but not its endorsement
ArtsBeat reports: A new iPhone application being sold by an independent theatrical producer that promises up-to-the-minute information on discounted Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets sold at the TKTS booth in Times Square has been met with skepticism by the Theater Development Fund, which runs the TKTS discount program and which raised questions about the accuracy of the application.
This week Ken Davenport, the president of Davenport Theatrical Enterprises and a producer of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions like Oleanna and Altar Boyz, introduced an iPhone app called At the Booth. The program, which is sold for 99 cents at the iTunes store, says on its Web site that it “lists all the Broadway and Off-Broadway shows available at the TKTS booth every day and at what price.”
In a telephone interview Mr. Davenport said his goal in selling the app was to get more theatergoers to take advantage of the TKTS booth, “to drive more people there and make it a better experience for the consumer,” and to help bring the theater business into the digital marketplace.
On Friday the Theater Development Fund said that it was preparing its own iPhone application and suggested that At the Booth may not provide a real-time representation of TKTS offerings.
In a statement Victoria Bailey, executive director the fund, said it was “currently beta testing a TKTS/TDF iPhone app that will be available in September,” and which “which will accurately show what is available at all three TKTS Booths (Times Square, South Street Seaport and Downtown Brooklyn).”
Ms. Bailey added, “While we always appreciate efforts to disseminate information about what is available at the TKTS Booths, we are concerned that this recently released app may not provide an accurate picture of ticket availability and line lengths considering the fluidity of both.”
Mr. Davenport declined to specify where the TKTS data provided by the At the Booth app came from. “We have a variety of sources and ways that we get that information, and we just are able to pull it together and put it up in the app,” he said. “It’s not brain surgery. We have a lot of ways that we do it, and a lot of ways that we double-check,” he added.
Asked if any of the money raised by sales of At the Booth would go to to the kinds of industry education and training programs that the not-for-profit Theater Development Fund supports, Mr. Davenport pointed to his work as a theatrical producer.
“I think I qualify more as a nonprofit, if you want to look at the definition of the word,” Mr. Davenport said. “If you look at all the money that I’ve raised and put into the theater, and a lot of which has not come back, I have a pretty good track record. But Broadway producers out there are raising lots of money, and just because they call us for-profit, doesn’t mean we are.”
This week Ken Davenport, the president of Davenport Theatrical Enterprises and a producer of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions like Oleanna and Altar Boyz, introduced an iPhone app called At the Booth. The program, which is sold for 99 cents at the iTunes store, says on its Web site that it “lists all the Broadway and Off-Broadway shows available at the TKTS booth every day and at what price.”In a telephone interview Mr. Davenport said his goal in selling the app was to get more theatergoers to take advantage of the TKTS booth, “to drive more people there and make it a better experience for the consumer,” and to help bring the theater business into the digital marketplace.
On Friday the Theater Development Fund said that it was preparing its own iPhone application and suggested that At the Booth may not provide a real-time representation of TKTS offerings.
In a statement Victoria Bailey, executive director the fund, said it was “currently beta testing a TKTS/TDF iPhone app that will be available in September,” and which “which will accurately show what is available at all three TKTS Booths (Times Square, South Street Seaport and Downtown Brooklyn).”
Ms. Bailey added, “While we always appreciate efforts to disseminate information about what is available at the TKTS Booths, we are concerned that this recently released app may not provide an accurate picture of ticket availability and line lengths considering the fluidity of both.”
Mr. Davenport declined to specify where the TKTS data provided by the At the Booth app came from. “We have a variety of sources and ways that we get that information, and we just are able to pull it together and put it up in the app,” he said. “It’s not brain surgery. We have a lot of ways that we do it, and a lot of ways that we double-check,” he added.
Asked if any of the money raised by sales of At the Booth would go to to the kinds of industry education and training programs that the not-for-profit Theater Development Fund supports, Mr. Davenport pointed to his work as a theatrical producer.
“I think I qualify more as a nonprofit, if you want to look at the definition of the word,” Mr. Davenport said. “If you look at all the money that I’ve raised and put into the theater, and a lot of which has not come back, I have a pretty good track record. But Broadway producers out there are raising lots of money, and just because they call us for-profit, doesn’t mean we are.”
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