Though TicketMaster and Tele-Charge handle most telephone sales of Broadway tickets, Off and Off-Off-Broadway is a more open field, with some companies turning to the mighty twosome, and others handling the chores themselves. A third option has been Ticket Central, which gave small performing arts groups without their own box office a way to manage everything from phone sales to financial reports.

Despite being a mostly manual operation, Ticket Central (which is owned and operated by Playwrights Horizons) sells more than 100,000 tickets a year, with receipts generating more than $2.2 million.

Now the organization will be an even bigger force, thanks to new, state of-the-art computerization, beginning Jan. 26. Transactions that used to take 12 minutes are now expected to be shaved to a minute. Ticket Central can also do more as far as daily sales reports, fulfillment services, automated phone sales, and audience development. The cost to most theatre companies: $30 a performance.

According to the James Morrison press office, Ticket Central first began out of a trailer in 1983. When that home was condemned(!) in 1989, the operation moved into the Playwrights Horizons box office.

Ticket Central's phone number is (212) 279-4200. Current shows handled by the outlet include Goose-Pimples and Gun-Shy. -- By David Lefkowitz