Resource Library
The business of theatre, in 50 links
A reading list for people who want to understand how Broadway and the West End work: what to read every week, where the numbers come from, who sets the rules, where producers learn the trade and the books worth owning. We use most of these ourselves. Nothing here is sponsored, and no link is an offer of anything. Missing something? Write to broadway@offscripttheatricals.com.
From OFFSCRIPT
What we publish every week, and the rules it runs on.
Weekly
The PulseThe week’s Broadway grosses read as a P&L: price, capacity and revenue per available seat, every Tuesday.
Weekly
Investing UnpackedOne mechanism of the business explained each week, with a labelled illustrative model.
Reference
MethodologyEvery formula and rule behind the Pulse and Unpacked, from revenue per available seat to how we score our own calls.
News and commentary
Daily and weekly reading on the business of theatre. The newsletters are free unless noted.
News
Broadway NewsOriginal Broadway journalism: industry, creative, casting and awards news, with analysis and features.
Subscription for full access
Newsletter
Broadway BriefingFree morning newsletter for theatre professionals: headlines, box office, openings and closings, and a daily planner.
Newsletter
Broadway JournalPhilip Boroff’s newsletter digging into the business of Broadway: capitalizations, filings and what the numbers say.
Philip Boroff
News
BroadwayWorld Industry NewsBroadwayWorld’s industry hub: business news, weekly grosses, venue and jobs listings, and its Industry Pro newsletter.
News
The StageThe UK theatre trade paper: news, reviews, features and jobs, with the West End’s business covered daily.
Subscription for full access
News
The New York Times: TheaterTheatre news, reviews and reporting from the Times; its Theater Update newsletter rounds up the week.
Subscription for full access
Newsletter
Downstage CenterHoward Sherman on how theatre gets made, the state of the field and stage censorship.
Howard Sherman
Essays
HowlRound Theatre CommonsA free, open platform for theatremakers: essays, livestreamed conversations and podcasts about practice.
Newsletter
JaquesGordon Cox’s guide to the global theatre industry: a free international news roundup, plus paid in-depth features.
Gordon Cox
Newsletter
Jared HarbourEssays on Broadway’s development system, the legal structure of the industry and the economics of who gets to make art.
Jared Harbour
Newsletter
Nothing for the GroupDramaturg Lauren Halvorsen’s Friday round-up of the week in American theatre: news, reviews and takes.
Lauren Halvorsen
Newsletter
The Musical Theatre ReportBen West’s journal on the past, present and future of the musical stage, with a free Sunday dispatch.
Ben West
Grosses and industry data
The public numbers. The League’s table is the source; Playbill and BroadwayWorld republish it with their own columns.
Data
The Broadway League: Broadway grossesThe official weekly grosses by show, with attendance, percent of capacity and season-to-date totals.
Weekly, Mondays
Data
Playbill: Broadway grossesThe week’s grosses by show with average and top ticket, seats sold, performances and capacity.
Data
BroadwayWorld: Broadway grossesWeekly grosses by show with week-over-week change, plus per-show histories going back years.
Research
The Broadway League: research reportsAudience demographics, the economics of touring Broadway and Broadway’s contribution to New York; excerpts free, full reports sold.
Databases and research tools
Who did what, where and when.
Database
Internet Broadway Database (IBDB)The Broadway League’s official record of every Broadway production, person, theatre and season.
Database
Spectra.TheaterThe production library that took over the Internet Off-Broadway Database in 2025: Off-Broadway, regional and more.
Formerly IOBDB
Database
Playbill VaultPlaybill’s searchable archive of productions and people, browsable by season back to 1946–47.
Database
Theatrical IndexIndustry listings of Broadway, Off-Broadway, touring and in-development productions since 1964, with company and agency contacts.
TIPro is a paid subscription
Reviews
Show-ScoreVerified audience scores for New York theatre alongside critics’ reviews, a quick read on word of mouth.
Database
IMDbProScreen credits, representation and contacts for the film and television people who cross into theatre.
Paid
Tool
Google AlertsEmail alerts for new results on a show, a person or a topic. Set one for every title you follow.
Organizations, unions and contracts
The bodies that set the rules, and the agreements themselves.
Contracts
Actors’ Equity Association: contracts and codesEquity’s index of its agreements, including the Production Contract for Broadway and tours and the Off-Broadway agreement.
Organization
The Broadway LeagueThe national trade association for the Broadway industry: grosses, season statistics, audience research and the Tony Awards with the Wing.
Organization
Off-Broadway LeagueThe trade association of Off-Broadway theatre owners, operators and producers; negotiates with Equity for its members.
Organization
Off Broadway AllianceOff-Broadway producers, managers, venue owners and press agents; monthly meetings, seminars and the OBA Awards.
Organization
Theatre Communications Group (TCG)The national organization for nonprofit theatre: American Theatre magazine, TCG Books, ARTSEARCH jobs and field research.
Organization
National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT)The network of organizations that develop and produce musicals; runs the annual Festival of New Musicals.
Organization
Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU)Weekly Friday Zoom gatherings for developing producers and theatre professionals, archived on YouTube.
Organization
Society of London Theatre (SOLT)The membership body for London’s producers, managers and theatre owners; publishes annual West End box-office data.
Courses, talks and events
Where producers learn the trade.
Course
Commercial Theater Institute (CTI)Producing training from The Broadway League and TDF: a three-day intensive and longer programs for new producers.
Course
The Business of BroadwayLive online classes run by working commercial producers, from Producing 101 to rights, unions and investment.
Course
New Musicals Inc. (NMI)Classes, online craft labs and dramaturgical feedback for musical theatre writers, composers and lyricists.
Video
Working in the TheatreThe American Theatre Wing’s documentary series on theatre’s crafts and the people practicing them.
American Theatre Wing
Event
BroadwayConThe three-day Broadway fan convention in New York; the industry turns up too. Last held January 2026.
Talks
TEDxBroadwayAn archive of talks on the question “What’s the best Broadway can be?” The conference last ran in 2022.
Books and guides
The shelf. Links go to the publisher or an independent bookseller where we could find one.
Book
Broadway General ManagerHow commercial Broadway runs week to week: budgets, union agreements, contracts, insurance and closing a show.
Peter Bogyo · Allworth Press, 2017
Book
I Wanna Be a ProducerA longtime entertainment lawyer and producer on the legal and business questions every Broadway producer faces.
John Breglio · Applause, 2016
Book
Producing Theatre: A Comprehensive Legal and Business GuideA theatrical attorney’s guide to raising money, rights, contracts and licensing, with sample budgets and forms.
Donald C. Farber · Limelight Editions, 3rd ed., 2006
Book
Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for BroadwayBroadway’s decline and revival in the 1970s and ’80s, told through the Shuberts’ Bernard Jacobs and Gerald Schoenfeld.
Michael Riedel · Simon & Schuster, 2016
Book
Stage Money: The Business of the Professional TheaterHow commercial and nonprofit theatre is financed: budgets, taxes, union contracts, ticket pricing and marketing. Free open-access edition.
Tim Donahue and Jim Patterson · University of South Carolina Press, rev. ed., 2020
Book
The Business of BroadwayAn insider’s map of Broadway’s business, from the jobs behind each show to producing and investing, with industry interviews.
Mitch Weiss and Perri Gaffney · Allworth Press, 2017
Book
The Commercial Theater Institute Guide to Producing Plays and MusicalsWorking professionals from CTI’s program on producing for Broadway, Off-Broadway, the road and the UK.
Frederic B. Vogel and Ben Hodges, editors · Applause, 2006
Book
The Stage Producer’s Business and Legal GuideThe legal and business handbook for live-entertainment producers: licensing, contracts, fundraising, nonprofits, insurance and tax.
Charles Grippo · Allworth Press, 2nd ed., 2019
Glossaries
For the words. Our own terms are defined on the Methodology page.
Glossary
Broadway GlossaryBroadwayWorld’s A-to-Z of theatre terms, from blocking and cyclorama to house left and the ghost light.
Glossary
Glossary of TermsNew Musicals Inc.’s glossary of musical-theatre writing: song forms, lyric devices, voice types and the industry bodies.
Musical Theatre Resource Center
Links checked October 2026. Names and prices are the publishers’ and may change. This page is a reading list, not advice; nothing on it is an offer or a solicitation to invest.