How to Properly Usher a Play

It's opening night at your church, school or community theater or maybe it's even the last running of your play. Regardless, it's always important to prepare the space for the audience's maximum viewing pleasure. You want their night be a pleasant experience so they'll return for future shows. Here's how to properly usher a play---from the building entrance to the house and to the exit:

Dress for the occasion: All ushers should look their sharpest; the typical usher outfit consists of eveningwear with a white top and black bottoms, whether skirts or trousers. Men should go with a plain black tie if they own one; if not, choose a conservative one, not the brightest one you own. Ladies should consider wearing make-up (perhaps red lipstick) to look their best. Some kind of body spray or cologne would be a wise choice for both men and women.

Clean up house: The seats and floor should be spotless. Not a gum rapper or soda bottle or drink cup should be in sight. The least bit of trash will send a negative message to your audience the moment they enter the house: "This place is dirty. This place is badly run. The people here don't care about their audience." Chances are, someone will complain---either directly to the theater management or to their friends, who in turn will be less likely to attend a show at your venue. Prevent bad rumors as much as possible and wipe away any sign that an audience previously sat there. Audience members want to feel special, even exclusive.

Welcome everyone: At least one usher should stand at the front entrance to greet people as the come into the building. Perhaps they're only looking around the lobby and debating whether or not to buy a show ticket; if you're rude to them upfront or forget to greet them when they come in, they'll likely choose to leave instead of making a purchase. The ushers who stand at the house's entrance should greet people when they take their tickets, as well. Once is never enough! Remember that people want to feel special when they come to the theater.

Open the house on time: People usually pay a pretty penny for theater tickets and they expect to be seated on time. Many audience members arrive early, especially if there are no assigned seats, and don't want to be kept waiting too long. If you must, for whatever reason, open the house late, apologize to the audience members and ensure that they're seated at the earliest possible time. Make sure that the rest of the evening doesn't run too far off schedule, either.

Take tickets graciously: The ticket taker's script is simple: say "Hello" or "Good evening," take the person's ticket, give them the sub, and say something along the lines of "Thank you and enjoy the show!" If possible, one person (or couple) of ushers should take tickets and then another person (or couple) should show people to their seats. If only one person is in charge of both of these duties, s/he is likely to become frazzled, especially if it's a full house!

Hand out programs and show seats: The usher(s) who show people to their seats should also be in charge of giving audience members a program. Some parents get very offended when ushers neglect to give even their young children programs so make sure that you hand out programs to everyone---or at least offer the program to the child. Memorize how the seats are arranged---alphabetically, numerically, odd numbers on this side of the room, even numbers on this side---before you open the house so you're not scrambling to figure it out as you seat the audience. If you're confused and slow to seat them, they'll only get frustrated with you.

Remain in the theater to assist audience members: At least one usher, preferably one by each major entrance/exit, should stand inside of the house. This way, if audience members need to get up for any reason, to use the bathroom for example, someone is there to help them and point them in the right direction. This same usher(s) should thank everyone as they exit at the end of the show.

Clean house: After the show, do what you can to clean up. The theater may have a custodian but that doesn't mean you can't make his or her life a little easier.