touring company

touring company (plural touring companies)

1. (performing arts) A troupe of theatrical, musical, or other performers who constitute an ancillary unit of an established company of performers, and who usually provide entertainment at locations other than the main venue where the established company performs.
   • 1990 January 23, Allan Kozinn, “City Opera's 'Boheme' Tour Has Early Stop in Brooklyn”, in New York Times, retrieved 12 July 2012:

     Last fall's strike by the New York City Opera orchestra killed the company's regular season, but it did not cast its shadow over the endeavors of its touring troupe. . . . The touring company was established in 1979 by Beverly Sills as a kind of training troupe in which promising young singers could get some performing and touring experience before joining the company's regular roster.

   • 2008 July 31, Richard Zoglin, “A New Dawn for Hair”, in Time:

     I never saw the original production of Hair, but I did catch the show a couple of years after its 1968 Broadway debut, when the touring company came to San Francisco.

   • 2011 January 4, Victoria Summerley, “The Royal Ballet's history through an insider's lens”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 12 July 2012:

     Jones won a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in 1953, and soon joined its touring company.

• B team
• second string