Theatre’s Front Lines
TOM CLARK, VETERAN HOUSE MANAGER AT the Geva Theatre in Rochester, looks back nostalgically to the early years of his four-decade career serving in various front-of-house capacities at several theatres.
“In the old days everything was like a puzzle,” he recalls. “If there was a discrepancy between tickets sold and monies earned you figured it out. You counted and recounted. It was enjoyable; it was our artistic input. Now you just click a button. Technology has taken the fun out of it.”
The impact of technology on theatre operations has indeed been profound, and not simply in matters of financial reconciliation or the way tickets are bought, sold, or verified by ticket-takers with hand-held electronic devices. It’s not even theatregoers’ ubiquitous smart phones, which allow them to text, answer calls, and take pictures during performances. Clark and others believe technology has helped forge a new personality among the theatregoing public that front-of-house staffers—box office personnel, ushers, but most pointedly house managers—have to deal with on an almost daily basis.
“Everyone wants instant gratification,” says Clark. “Years ago, if there was a problem over seating patrons would apologize, assuming it was their fault. That mind-set has changed. Now they assume you did something wrong and you need to fix it right away.”
In all fairness, house managers concede that there are extenuating stressors audiences experience today that did not exist to the same degree
