Guide

Concert or show in a theatre in Argentina: sectors, re-entry and guest lists

By SOMOS DER · October 30, 2026 · 7 min read

In a theatre the ticket already says which seat each person takes; what you still have to solve is the door. The ticketing platform sells the seat; accreditation decides who goes in, where and how many times. Create one attendee type per sector (stalls, upper circle, boxes), decide in advance whether people go out to the street at the interval and, if they do, give those types re-entry. Written for promoters from abroad bringing a show to an Argentine theatre.

First: what the ticket solves and what the door solves

A theatre show has something a club does not: the seat. The ticketing platform sells it, with its price per sector. In the SOMOS DER team that is ENTRÁ. PASE does not sell tickets: it accredits and controls who goes in.

Two typical situations:

• Public performance with ticket sales. The audience enters with the ticket from the ticketing platform. PASE handles what the ticket leaves out: guests, press, production and technicians.
• Closed performance. A company show or a premiere with a list: everyone registers and each person gets a PASE QR code and the whole door runs on the same system.

Stalls, upper circle and boxes: one attendee type per sector

The simplest way to bring the theatre's sectors to the door is to make each sector an attendee type: "Stalls", "Upper circle", "Boxes". Each type registers through its own link. Then, in the PASE permission matrix, you mark which type can enter which sector.

Put a check-in point where the permission changes, not at every door of the building. In most theatres that means:

• The street door or the lobby, for everyone with a QR code.
• The upper circle access, usually at the foot of a staircase. If someone from the stalls scans there, the screen shows NOT AUTHORIZED and the usher knows what to say.
• The dressing room corridor, only for artists, technicians and production.

The usher handles the exact seat; the scanner makes sure nobody goes up to a sector that is not theirs.

Lobby, upper circle and dressing rooms are already three points. The Base plan includes 1 check-in point, Pro up to 4 and Enterprise unlimited (see pricing).

The room sets the capacity, not the list

What breaks most often in a theatre with guests is the count. The room has a licensed capacity, and the guest list does not sit on top of it: it sits inside it. As an example of how local rules treat this, Buenos Aires City Law 2147, which regulates independent theatre venues, defines them with a maximum capacity of 350 spectators, sets exit aisles at a minimum width of 0.80 m for the first hundred spectators and states that the means of egress cannot be obstructed by any element.

Each venue has its own licence, but the consequence applies everywhere: there are no extra chairs in the aisle for the artist's friend who turned up unannounced. If the list exceeds the free seats, the problem is solved before the doors open, not at the door.

A method that works: ask the ticketing platform how many seats are held for guests and press, and close the lists at that number. The PASE live report shows how many of each type are already in.

The interval: do people go out or stay in?

Decide this before setting anything up:

• Interval inside. People stay in the foyer or bar. Nothing to control on the way back.
• Interval outside. People go out to the sidewalk, and the street door has to let them back in.

In PASE, re-entry is a property of the attendee type. A type without re-entry enters once: the QR is used and a second attempt shows as a duplicate, so two people cannot get in with the same code. A type with re-entry validates every time the person comes back. The trade-off is that a re-entry QR is not blocked as a duplicate, so it has to be personal: one named QR per person. It cannot be improvised mid-show.

The return is concentrated in the last few minutes, so put more than one operator on the street door.

Guests and press: a list per link and a clear pickup point

A theatre show usually has three lists: the artist's guests, the production's guests and press. Give each one its own link and attendee type. Each guest receives the QR code by email with the badge in PDF. The registration page and the QR email are available in Spanish and English: they follow the browser language, and adding ?lang=en to the link forces English.

Three rules:

• One owner per list. Whoever built it decides doubtful cases and stays reachable by phone.
• A separate window. Guests do not stand in the public queue. Someone on the list without a QR is found by name at the door.
• A cut-off time. Guest seats not used by a set time are released. Agree on it with the ticketing platform beforehand.

Press has its own details (photographers, pit access, photo windows), covered in our note on press accreditation at events.

Right of admission: written down and visible

A concert in a theatre is an artistic show, and Argentina's Law 26,370 on the right of admission and permanence applies to "eventos y espectáculos musicales, artísticos y de entretenimiento en general" (musical, artistic and entertainment events and shows in general). It defines that right as the power of the owner of the venue or event to admit or exclude third parties, provided the exclusion is based on objective conditions and is not discriminatory or arbitrary. Write the show's own conditions (minimum age, no entry after curtain) and keep them visible.

The ticketing platform sells the seat. Who goes in, to which sector and how many times is decided before the doors open.

Frequently asked questions