Show dictionary · Production Management
Doors
Also: house open
Doors is the scheduled moment the audience is admitted into the venue. "Doors at 7" means the public enters at 7:00; every onstage task, soundcheck, and rehearsal must be finished (or invisible) by then, because the room stops belonging to the crew.
In practice
Doors is the hardest soft deadline in live production: it can slip a few minutes, but late doors anger the audience, the venue, and the promoter simultaneously. The last hour before doors is the show before the show: line checks finish, presets get built, walk-in music and looks go live, and the stage clears.
Theatre’s equivalent is "house open," traditionally half an hour before curtain, after which the stage belongs to the house manager and crew crossing it need permission. The show call countdown (half hour, fifteen, five, places) runs from there.
How you’ll hear it
"Doors in ten. Clear the deck, walk-in playlist on, house to half."
Related resources
Part of the eventools.io Show Dictionary, a free glossary of live event production terminology.