NAICS 71111Industry · 5-digitlocal market

Theatre companies and dinner theatres

This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in producing live presentations that involve the performances of actors and actresses, opera singers and other vocalists. Included are theatre companies that operate their own facilities, primarily for the staging of their own productions, as well as establishments, known as dinner theatres, engaged in producing live theatrical entertainment and in providing food and beverages for consumption on the premises. Examples of establishments in this industry are theatre companies, opera companies, musical theatre companies, community theatres, multidisciplinary theatres, puppet theatres, mime theatres and comedy troupes. — Statistics Canada, NAICS 2022A

Establishments · CanadaA: 443
Under 10 employeesA: 61%
Establishments · USA: 3,503
Employment · USA: 63,427
Payroll · USA: $2.5B

Size and shape

How many businesses there are and how small they are. Fragmentation is the first thing an entrant — or anyone selling software into this industry — needs to know, and it is one of the few things that is actually measured.

Canadian establishments by number of employeesA

1–417940%

5–99321%

10–196815%

20–495212%

50–99358%

100–19992%

200–49951%

500+20%

Of 443 Canadian establishments with employees, 61% have fewer than ten — mostly small operators.

Where they areA

Ontario14032%

Quebec13831%

British Columbia6014%

Alberta4510%

Largest four provinces by establishment count. Establishments with employees only — sole operators with no payroll are not in this table, so in trades and personal services the true number of businesses is higher.

How many new establishments are still tradingA

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation, US · opened 2020

81.3%

1 year

70.3%

3 years

57.1%

5 years

40.8%

10 years

opened 2015

Measured, not forecast: the share of US establishments opening in one year that were still active later. It counts good operators and bad ones together, which is exactly why it is the honest answer to “what are the odds”. It is for the whole sector rather than this market, and the ten-year figure comes from an older cohort because no younger one has reached ten years.

How businesses here compete

The structural profile of subsector 711, which every industry beneath it inherits. This is analyst judgment from how the subsector is organised — not research into this industry, and not a measurement.

local competitionlow capitalUNVERIFIEDinherited from 711 Performing arts, spectator sports and related industries

Costs that ticket prices have never covered, met by grants and donations. Promoters and agents are the commercial, enterable edge.

Who sets the price: Ticket buyers, donors and grant bodies.
The software it runs on: Ticketing, donor management and booking.

Market screens and studies

Market-entry records filed along this branch of the hierarchy. A record at or beneath this code is about this industry; one above it is about something wider that contains it.

Screened one level up. Nothing is filed at this exact code; the screen for 7111 Performing arts companies covers it.

Operating businessScreenedfiled at 7111

Performing Arts CompanyExecution decides

binding constraint: growth quality

The pre-screen expected a cut here and the evidence is worse than expected. SMU DataArts, analysing 6,498 arts nonprofits over 2019–2024, found 44% ran deficits — the highest rate in six years — with a median surplus of 1% of expenses; contributed revenue fell 25% between 2023 and 2024 alone; and median working capital fell from 6.75 months of operating expenses in 2021 to 4.25 months in 2024, with 42% holding three months or less [B]. Performing arts centres cover 69.5% of expenses from earned revenue, the best in the sector, and still need the other 30% from donors who are giving less. This is not a market with a bad year. It is a cost structure that has never been covered by ticket prices and is now losing the subsidy that covered the gap. *The same figures should be read by anyone selling to* these organisations: a customer with 4.25 months of cash does not sign a new annual subscription. Statistics Canada now measures the same industry at home, and the average conceals two businesses. In 2024 Canadian performing arts companies took C$3,185.5M of operating revenue at a 12.6% operating margin — but the for-profit half earned 20.9% on C$2,057.6M while the not-for-profit half ran at −2.4%** on C$1,128.0M, and covered only C$419.5M of its C$1,155.3M of expenses from selling anything [A]. A company, in the sense the word is used in this industry, is the second one.

NAICS 71115 vendors named10 sourced figuresOpen →

Software serving this industry

The vertical software markets filed along the same branch — who sells to these businesses and who they would have to displace — and then the generic categories every business buys whatever it does.

No vertical software market has been recorded along this branch. What the subsector typically runs on: Ticketing, donor management and booking.

And what every business buys · 25 generic categories

Sold to every industry rather than this one, so they are filed against the software industry's own code. The same few vendors recur across most of them.

Who works here

The occupations employed in Arts, entertainment and recreation, most concentrated in it first. The share is measured against the whole sector, not this industry — the published cross-tabulation stops there.

Concentrated in this sectorA

Occupations related to museums and art galleries Mostly one sector 63.2%

Support occupations in accommodation, travel, tourism and amusement services Mostly one sector 58.2%

Tourism and amusement services occupations Mostly one sector 51%

Program leaders and instructors in recreation, sport and fitness Mostly one sector 49.8%

Athletes, coaches, referees and related occupations Mostly one sector 45.3%

Managers in art, culture, recreation and sport Mostly one sector 44.1%

Support occupations in art and culture Mostly one sector 41.2%

Logging, forestry, landscaping and other related labourers Mostly one sector 13.7%

Librarians, archivists, conservators and curators One industry 10.4%

Technical occupations in motion pictures, broadcasting and the performing arts Mostly one sector 5.8%

These jobs are mostly done here. An operator in this industry is competing for them against others in the same industry, not against the whole economy.

And the jobs every business has

Building maintenance installers, servicers and repairers Across the economy 2.9%

Shoe repairers, shoemakers and upholsterers Across the economy 2.9%

Legislative and senior managers Across the economy 1.7%

Customer and information services representatives Across the economy 1.2%

Other technical trades Across the economy 1.2%

Administrative services managers Across the economy 1%

Found across at least fourteen of the twenty sectors. In a small establishment several of these are usually one person, or an outside provider.

All 162 occupations →

Inside this industry

2 rows sit directly beneath 71111. Each has a base report of its own.

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
711111	Theatre (except musical) companies	377	screened at 7111
711112	Musical theatre and opera companies	66	screened at 7111

Alongside it, under 7111 Performing arts companies

Code	Industry	Establishments · CA	What is known
71112	Dance companies	108	screened at 7111
71113	Musical groups and artists	526	screened at 7111
71119	Other performing arts companies	75	screened at 7111