IU Auditorium ushers keep shows running smoothly

IU Auditorium Assistant Guest Services Manager Brad Lufkin began the usher meeting in the foyer of the IU Auditorium for the 54 volunteer ushers, including junior Courtney Litchfield, who signed up to work the show “Traces” Feb. 16.

During the meeting, Lufkin updated the ushers on information such as the lack of an intermission during the show and not conducting late seating once the show started. After the meeting, Litchfield made her way to the orchestra group she had been placed in when signing in.

Balcony, mezzanine and orchestra ushers, such as Litchfield, are responsible for seating patrons at the IU Auditorium.

Litchfield has been ushering at the IU Auditorium since her first semester here, six semesters ago.

“I’ve done theater since I was in preschool,” Litchfield said. “I decided to usher so I could see the shows for free and stay involved in theater as much as I could.”

Through ushering for the Auditorium, Litchfield has been able to see many shows for free. She said some of her favorites have been “Legally Blonde: The Musical,” “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” “Chicago,” “Rock of Ages” and “Cirque Dreams Holidaze.”
Once all of the ushers were together in their groups, student managers guided each group through its responsibilities for the evening.

Student managers are IU students who were once volunteer ushers and now get paid to orient the volunteer ushers on how the evening will go and make sure everything runs smoothly, senior and Student Manager Lauren Sweeney said. Their main goal is to make the experience for patrons the best it possibly can be.

When one of the student managers asked the orchestra ushers if anyone in the group would be willing to be in the “vom,” Litchfield said she was one of the first to volunteer.
Vomitoriums, or voms, is a term still used to describe the hallways leading into the theater or auditorium.

“Back in ancient Greece or Rome, the shows would be so vile that they would have hallways between seating for people to run out and vomit,” Litchfield said.

The voms led back into a hallway away from the rest of the orchestra group where they were assigned a door labeled A-E. The voms’ responsibility is to constantly stand in the doorway, check guests’ tickets as they enter and hand the tickets to an usher who then leads them to their seats.

After all the ushers understood their responsibilities for the evening, the only thing left for them to do was wait for the doors to open to the public. Litchfield stood with the others responsible for ushering at Door C. They talked about what they had eaten for dinner, what they had heard about the show and memories from sold-out shows they had ushered where they had to stand in the back hallway to watch because there were no empty seats.

About 10 minutes before the doors opened, the ushers were able to go into the Auditorium, prepare to welcome guests and watch the end of the “Traces” rehearsal.
Then, it was finally time to start seating the guests.

Immediately, people filled the Auditorium. Jazz music played while people talked and laughed. Ushers quickly seated people then returned to the voms to seat another group. Some guests stood in line for concessions.

Just as suddenly as seating began, the lights dimmed and a voice came over the intercom.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the IU Auditorium.”

Litchfield and the rest of the ushers chatted in a back room while waiting for a student manager to come lead them to their seats.

Once the ushers gathered their belongings, a student manager took them to their seats in the mezzanine, ushering them in turn.

Litchfield sat with the other ushers and was able to add another show to her growing list of performances watched at the IU Auditorium.