Monday, August 19, 2019
Bladder Management™ and the wisdom of front-of-house theater staffers
Datebook: During my last job before becoming The Chronicle’s theater critic, in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s fundraising department, a lot of my duties were what the theater industry calls front-of-house, which is loosely defined as everything you experience at a theater beyond the stage. It’s the ushers who greet and seat you, the box office staff who give you your ticket, the concessionaire who directs you toward the hot water and tea bags.
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Front of House staff are often the unsung heroes of the theater world. They do a lot and put up with more and are literally the front lines between the rest of us and the audience. I worked Front of House at the Alley for years and it was never an easy job. On top of Bladder Management ™, you also find yourself being a first responder for elderly audience members, the chaperone of children left to explore the holiday displays on their own, the detective sniffing out the lost…whatever, and so much more. After I moved backstage at the Alley, I still made it a point to go visit the front of house staff on the regular. To this day a trip to the Alley guarantees a free drink and snack from the bartender, Joel, unspoken agreement of “priority” if there’s a standby line from house manager, Julie, and the best seats in the house at a comped or discounted rate from box office queen, Ruthie. One of the struggles I remember having when working front of house was where does it belong. Is front of house part of marketing? Operations? Production? I think it’s important to always look into that when you start at a company, as it tells you a lot about priority. When I first started the Alley was going through a transition and the Front of House staff was more or less the wild west of unclaimed mini departments. Now they operate in a more unified manner under marketing—but get counted any time Production is feeding the cast and crew.
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