off-stage right

Now plenty of people complain or joke about older audiences – I for one believe that despite this we actually all love any audience member but of course we would also like to see younger more diverse audiences at theaters across the country (including commercial shows).  Why wouldn’t we?  A a diverse audience enhances the theater-going experience.

But with that in mind, here is something almost every theater with volunteer ushers deals with – most of the volunteers tend to be older.  Let’s be honest for a minute, some of them are wonderful, but there are also a lot of these volunteer ushers who just aren’t good ushers and they have been doing it for years and years, are impossible to train for any changes, and hurt the customers service experience of our theaters.  I have been run into this at several theaters I have worked for or attended.

But I don’t recall ever hearing about a theater actively trying to “retire” its older usher pool.  So I was completely intrigued this morning when I read Frank Rizzo’s Curtains Blog:

 

Hartford Stage Seeks to Mix Ushers Pool

By Frank Rizzo on June 3, 2009 6:19 AM

The usher taking you to your seat might be considerably younger at Hartford Stage next season.

 

The theater is seeking to replace 40 percent of its more than 400 volunteer ushers with a younger and more diverse group from the community.

 

We hear that some ushers at Hartford Stage aren’t particularly happy with the letter they got from managing director Michael Stotts asking some volunteer to retire so others can take their place.

 

"I’m highly incensed an insulted," says one usher who has been volunteering for decades and did not want to be quoted for fear of losing the position.

 

But a theater spokesman the effort is to attract younger people to the theater and give them the opportunity to volunteer and see the shows, too

 

I have to say, I understand exactly where Hartford Stage is coming from and if you read my blog you have figured out that I love what Michael Wilson and Michael Stotts are doing with this wonderful theater.   I am sure there was nothing insulting in Stotts’ letter, it is simply a touchy subject.  

I certainly think you have to reward volunteers for their loyalty, but for how long is a valid question.  It is certainly fair to ask that an opportunity to participate also be offered to new pools of people – if there is a list of people chomping at the bit to participate it can be damaging to the theater if volunteering is a closed exclusive club. And it is certainly difficult to recruit new volunteers if there are no positions for them to fill.  It is a double-edged sword that needs to be carefully navigated, but it has to be addressed sooner or later and congratulations to Stotts for giving it a go. 

I look forward to seeing how Hartford Stage deals with this, and can’t wait to see if it works. 

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