Best Practices for Student Front of House Volunteers: Ushers

Ushers are a cheerful, welcoming presence at any theatrical performance. Their job is to check tickets, answer patron questions, and keep the theatre clean and tidy. Volunteering as an usher for a school production is a great way for students of any experience level to get involved in a non-artistic capacity. Students who wish to volunteer as ushers must be personable, knowledgeable, confident, and able to solve problems independently. If you’ve got some students who want to get involved, use the following best practices to prepare them for the role.

1. Ushers must arrive early and be dressed appropriately.
Volunteer ushers should arrive no later than 45 minutes prior to showtime. They may need to help fold programs, set up concessions, or whatever else needs doing. They also must ensure the theatre and surrounding area is clean and tidy before patrons arrive. Feel free to adjust ushers’ start time as appropriate for your production and show needs.

Students should be dressed neatly in an agreed-upon look, for example, wearing all black, white shirt and black pants, a show shirt, or a piece of school merchandise. They should also wear an accessory such as a lanyard or pin that indicates that they are a volunteer usher.

2. Ushers must be efficient, knowledgeable, and great communicators.
Ushers are responsible for checking patron tickets, guiding patrons to their seats (if there’s assigned seating), and giving patrons their programs. If your theatre has special seating or supports, such as wheelchair accessible seats or booster seats for young children, ushers need to help patrons access those as well. Ushers need to complete all these tasks efficiently (the house usually opens only 10–15 minutes early) to ensure the performance starts on time.

Ushers are also the ultimate source of knowledge about the full show experience for the audience, so they need to be able to answer patron questions while they help get everyone seated. They need to know the length of the show; if and when intermission will occur; the content of the show (without giving away any surprises or major plot points); any trigger warnings that need to be communicated to patrons, such as flashing or strobe lights, startling sounds, or content warnings; the location of the nearest washrooms; and any theatre rules, such whether or not food and drinks are allowed in the theatre.

3. Ushers must be able to solve problems in a tactful manner.
Once the doors close and the show starts, ushers are responsible for seating any latecomers in a quiet and unobtrusive manner. Patrons will want to get to their seats quickly so they don’t miss anything, but ushers need to ensure that they do so at an appropriate time in the show, such as during a scene change or during applause following a musical number. This is to prevent patrons from disturbing other patrons or distracting the actors onstage. Ushers should have a small flashlight if the house seating is low, to ensure patrons don’t trip while they’re getting to their seats.

If your theatre has assigned seating, occasionally you’ll have patrons who purchase tickets for the wrong performance date or time, or patrons who sit in the wrong seat. Ushers need to be able to politely guide patrons into the correct seats or find them unoccupied seats. They may have to direct the patrons back to the box office to see if they can switch their seats to the correct show date/time, especially if the show is sold out.

If the performance is sold out but your theatre has unassigned seating, ushers will be responsible for ensuring that no empty seats are left between patrons (“No, sir, your coat does not get its own seat”) so everyone can fit.

One of the more challenging parts of the job is ensuring patrons follow the rules of the theatre. Three of the theatre rules audience members most commonly break are:

• No taking photos or videos of the performance
• Turn cell phones off
• No eating or drinking in the theatre

Ushers need to be confident enough to quietly approach patrons right away during the performance and ask them to stop filming/turn their phone off/put their snack away, even if the patron is an adult.

4. Ushers assist with other tasks as needed.
Ushers are responsible for tidying the theatre before and after the show — picking up and disposing of any garbage or recycling, placing any personal items left behind in the lost and found, putting seats back up, and sweeping, vacuuming, or mopping the floor as appropriate. During intermission, ushers must keep patrons from going onto the stage or trying to go backstage (it happens sometimes!), direct patrons to the concession area or restrooms, and re-seat patrons for Act 2 efficiently. Ushers might also be asked to help out with box office prior to the show or as concession assistants at intermission if those teams are short-staffed. At the end of the show, ushers should expect to stay approximately 10–15 minutes to tidy the theatre.

Ushers generally get to watch the performance they’re volunteering for at the back of the theatre as a perk of the role, with the understanding that they cannot get so engrossed in the performance that they neglect their tasks.

What are your best practices for your ushers? Share them with us on our socials!