quakerninja

Back to the day job...

I'm an usher for Portland Center for the Preforming Arts. p.c.p.a. is Part of Oregon Metro If you are looking for a job it's awesome but the hours are divided amongst the hoards so expect a trickle of shifts to start with. It's great if you are going to school or have another job already.

Tonight it's going to be South Pacific (in 3D lol) 7:30p @ the the Keller Auditorium in Portland.
part of the Broadway across America series.





Probably to late for tickets, unless you are close enough to swing by the Keller Auditorium box office.

Anywhoo Here are some theater going tips you might find useful for the non theater junkies.

The doors to the building open one hour before the show starts, and the doors to the seating area open a half hour before the show starts. Keller will sometimes have a cafe set up before the show so you can get a bite to eat. It's a buffet style thing. Some of the other productions have pre show lectures, Oregon symphony, and Oregon Ballet do this, I can't remember who else at the moment.

The front of house, or House manager (my boss) get's her orders from the Stage Manager.
(Basically the building is spit in half, the people side (that's us) and the performer side.

Anyway all policies about photos, drinks, food, *hold outs, ect are decided by the performer side.
To ensure you don't miss any of the show you can always ask an Usher what the nights policies are, we can also tell you run times if you want to know how long it's going to be, where to pee ect. (Oregon has a no smoking within 10ft of any door law) so you most likely will have to wait it out.

Hold Out:
*a hold out means if you are not in the seating area when the show starts you will have to wait, before going back into your seat.

It's usually just for the first song of each act, and the dramatic bits in the show where they want to keep it quit inside. It can last anywhere from a few minutes, to pretty much the whole show, if it's a symphony Those are some long ass songs.

-No photos in the seating area, but in the lobbies it's fine.
-No food or drink, or sometimes drinks in paper or plastic containers with lids on them are allowed.


If there is an intermission it will be listed in the program, It's actually shorter then the time printed so we can get everyone back to there seats, and fyi there are not enough restrooms in the buildings so if you skip part of the last song before intermission you can beat the lines, also (concessions will let you preorder drinks before the show and have them waiting for you at intermission) *don't forget that lid.

There will be two announcements.
a 3 minute call (given 5 minutes before the show starts)
and a Final Call (given 2 minutes before the show starts)

Probably a bunch of no brainer stuff (sorry), but even with all those silly rules live performance kicks ass, I would encourage everyone to check it out.

I'm not technically supposed to be watching the shows just the people for safety, cameras, booze ect, but I do get to see quite a few of them. I'll try and do some review stuff maybe.