Georgia’s professional theaters staged 4,073 performances in 2025, down 9.8% from the year before, the National Statistics Office (Geostat) said in its June 12 culture release. The drop was led by a contraction in the regions, with Tbilisi’s share of stage time actually growing. The capital hosted 70.4% of all performances and drew 66.3% of the 620,300-strong audience, the agency’s annual tally shows.
The bigger story in the data is the geography behind the headline drop. The capital ran 2,869 of the 4,073 productions, leaving the rest of the country to share a quarter of the year’s stage time. Outside Tbilisi and Imereti, the regional calendar thinned to a few dozen shows in each of the remaining regions. Tbilisi’s grip on stage time is the most consequential feature of the 2025 release.
Fifty-Three Stages, Mostly Drama
Geostat counted 53 professional theaters operating in Georgia during 2025, a step down from 54 in 2024. The roster tilts heavily toward spoken-word stages: 42 of the 53 venues were drama, musical comedy, or miniature theaters, with seven puppet theaters, two opera and ballet houses, and two houses for children and teenagers making up the rest.
The 2024 mix was similar in shape, with different labeling. Geostat’s 2024 release reported 29 drama, musical comedy, and miniature houses, plus 7 puppet theaters and 2 opera and ballet houses. Children’s and youth theaters, plus other categories, made up the rest of the 54-theater total. The 2025 release puts 42 theaters in the drama bucket and 0 in other categories. The year-over-year total dropped by one theater, from 54 to 53.
The capital remained the center of gravity for the network of stages. Tbilisi housed 54.7% of Georgia’s professional theaters in 2025, up from 53.7% a year earlier. Imereti, in the west, held 13.2% of the venues, slightly down from 14.8% in 2024, while the remaining 32.1% of theaters were scattered across the rest of the country.
Performances Fell 9.8% to 4,073
Performances in those 53 houses totaled 4,073 in 2025, Geostat said. The drop, year over year, is the steepest in the agency’s recent culture statistics.
The 2025 events calendar was a touch fuller than the performance count. Geostat counted 4,407 theater events in 2025, including 130 staged outside the host city and 153 taken abroad. The difference between 4,407 events and 4,073 performances reflects how the agency splits its year-end figures. The gap covers touring stops and overseas shows counted only in the events total.
The regional composition of those productions is where the structural story sits. Tbilisi alone staged 2,869 of them, Geostat said, with the rest of the country splitting a thin slice of the year’s stage time. Geostat’s regional breakdown names four regions besides Tbilisi: Imereti, the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, and Samtskhe-Javakheti, without breaking out the remaining regions.
The 2024 comparison shows a sector already shrinking before 2025. Geostat’s 2024 culture release reported 4,518 theater events, a 3.5% drop from 2023. Audience attendance fell 17.6% in 2024, to 636,100, before easing another 2.5% in 2025 to 620,300. The drop on the performance side in 2025 is the second consecutive year of contraction in the Georgian stage calendar. The 2024 figures, drawn from Geostat’s prior culture release, provide the year-over-year baseline.
| Metric | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Professional theaters | 54 | 53 |
| Tbilisi theater share | 53.7% | 54.7% |
| Theater events | 4,518 | 4,407 |
| Tbilisi performance share | 69.4% | 70.4% |
| Audience | 636,100 | 620,300 |
| Tbilisi audience share | 66.2% | 66.3% |
Tbilisi Kept Its Grip on the Stage
Tbilisi staged 2,869 of the year’s performances, Geostat said, giving the capital a 70.4% share of stage time. That share grew from 69.4% in 2024, when the country logged 4,518 theater events. The Tbilisi share has risen for two consecutive years, even as the national total fell.
The capital’s grip is reinforced by the venue count: 54.7% of all professional theaters in Georgia sit inside Tbilisi. Imereti holds 13.2% of the venues, with the remaining 32.1% spread across the rest of the country. The gap between Tbilisi’s 54.7% share of theaters and its 70.4% share of performances is the defining feature of the sector.
The regional drop-off below the capital is sharp. Imereti, in the west, was the only region besides Tbilisi to clear 400 productions in 2025, the data show. The full regional breakdown, beyond the capital and Imereti, looks like this:
- Imereti: 417 performances
- Autonomous Republic of Adjara: 190 performances
- Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti: 152 performances
- Samtskhe-Javakheti: 85 performances
The 2.5% Drop in Attendance
Audience attendance fell 2.5% to 620,300 people in 2025, Geostat said. The drop is much smaller than the 17.6% attendance decline recorded in 2024, when 636,100 people attended professional theater. Tbilisi’s 411,400 audience members in 2025 made up 66.3% of the total, up marginally from 66.2% the year before. Imereti, in second place, drew 59,600 people, and Adjara 56,100.
The capital’s 411,400 audience members came from a 2,869-show run, the highest of any region. The 2025 attendance decline of 2.5% was the second consecutive year of contraction, following 2024’s 17.6% fall. The agency’s release did not break out per-show attendance by region.
Georgian Theater Pushed Deeper Abroad
Georgian theater took 153 performances abroad in 2025, Geostat said, up from 136 the year before. The increase in international shows came even as the domestic stage calendar contracted. Overseas work is the only growing segment of the 2025 calendar. Domestic touring moved the other way: the 130 events staged outside the host city in 2025 were down from 177 in 2024.
The 4,407 events Geostat counted for the year include both the overseas and domestic touring figures. The out-of-town and international shows together represent the touring footprint of the Georgian stage. Geostat does not name the countries or companies involved in the international tours.
The abroad shows come on top of the domestic stage calendar, which contracted 9.8% from 2024. The growth in international work is one of the few lines in the 2025 release that points the other way from the broader contraction. The Geostat release offers no breakdown of which theaters sent tours abroad. International touring is a small slice of the year’s events but the only one that expanded between 2024 and 2025.
The Theater Workforce Held at 4,391
Professional theaters in Georgia employed 4,391 people in 2025, including 3,081 permanent staff, Geostat said. Employment increased by 80 people compared to 2024, even as the number of staged performances fell.
Employment growth came against a year of falling performances and audience, making the theater sector one of the few lines that moved up in 2025. The 80-person workforce gain was small but pointed the other way from the rest of the theater data. The permanent staff count of 3,081 made up the bulk of the total, with the rest on shorter contracts. Geostat does not break the workforce out by region or by theater type in the 2025 release.
- 53 professional theaters operated in Georgia in 2025
- 4,073 performances, down 9.8% from 2024
- 620,300 audience members, down 2.5% from 2024
- 70.4% of performances were staged in Tbilisi
- 153 performances were taken abroad, up from 136 in 2024
Museums Moved the Other Way
While theaters contracted, Georgia’s museums grew. Geostat’s 2025 culture release counted 261 museums and museum-reserves operating nationwide, with visitor numbers up 4.5% to 2 million people. The increase came even as theater performances contracted and audience numbers eased.
The museum growth extends beyond visitors. Exhibitions rose 7.1% to 1,006, Geostat said, and museums drew an average of 7,700 visitors each. The number of excursions fell 0.9% to 44,600. Tbilisi housed 22.6% of the museums, with Imereti at 15.3% and Kakheti at 14.2%, a less concentrated footprint than the theater network.
Of the 261 museums, 104 are memorial museums, 74 are historical (local history), 23 are art museums, 13 are museum-reserves, 2 are literary, and 45 fall into other categories, per the Geostat release. The contrast between a contracting theater calendar and a growing museum scene is laid out side by side in the data.
