Two evenings as an usher 

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a volunteer usher at the theatres as part of the Seattle Theatre group? On Friday, Oct. 12, and Monday, Oct. 14, I ushered for Clairo and Calum Scott, and I’m here to give you a rundown of how those nights went, as well as the process of each night’s timely schedule.

Friday Night

The night was Oct. 12, and the call time was 6:30 p.m., but I was told by Xaviera Vandermay, who organized volunteer ushers, to be at the Paramount Theatre, where Clairo was performing, by 6:15 p.m. Naturally, I arrived at 5:50 p.m. because I didn’t want to be late for the first session of the training. When I was on my way to the theatre, the line was to a quarter of the highway, but that was just the VIP section. 

Since it was the first time I was at the Paramount Theatre as an usher and not as a patron, there was a tour of the theatre so that the new ushering trainees had an idea of what the layout was and how to assist patrons attending the show to their seats or the washrooms.

By 6:30 pm., all of the ushers scheduled for that night had officially arrived, including myself. We were understaffed that night, most likely because it was a Friday and not a lot of people wanted to work. Before we headed upstairs to start the shift, we had a debrief to get to know the rundown of how to act and were reminded to respect the audience and other ushers.

By 7:00 p.m., most of the audience was inside, but the merch line was still wrapping around the theatre, and staff members had to tell them to clear the way. I was on the first mezzanine with Natasha and my mentor, Shiree. The second and third-floor mezzanines only had Edge, who took the second level and has been touring the theatres for 15 years, and Carey, who took the third floor. 

The opening act of the night was performed by Alice Phoebe Lou, who is an indie-folk artist from South Africa. She went on for 45 minutes, from 7:15 p.m. to 8:00 p.m..The ushers were told to stand through the performance before the intermission.

Intermission arrived, and the ushers were told to guard the emergency exit because people often get confused and try to exit through the wrong door. We had to remind them to use the correct exit and make sure they got to their seats. There were also people coming into the theatre after standing in the merch line for the majority of the opening act, and ushers like myself showed them to their seats in the packed theatre for Clairo. 

At 8:00 p.m., after the set change and intermission, the main act arrives. Clairo, an indie-pop artist born in Atlanta, Georgia, actually started a few minutes late, but the theatre became such a full house that other ushers and I had to pull out some of the foldable chairs, so we didn’t have to be crisscrossed on the floor of the mezzanine. 

The Set List of the Charm Tour 

If you are curious about the setlist and don’t want to look it up on Apple Music, let me tell you. The majority of the songs were from the album “Charm,”—which is the title of the tour—like “Nomad,” “Second Nature,” and her closing song “Juna.” There were songs like “Bambi” and “Partridge” from her album “Sling,” and many others. 

About a little over an hour in, I ended up heading back to my homestead because the exhaustion was hitting really hard after being at the theatre for three hours. Before I left, I wanted to check the break room that the ushers used to see if there was any food from the club left over. If you end up volunteering as an usher, you can occasionally get food from the club staff members. 

Monday Night

On Oct. 14, I ushered again at the Paramount Theatre for Calum Scott’s final leg of his tour in North America. Unlike Friday night, this night was overstaffed, with at least three times more people than for Clairo.    

This time, I was mentored by Sue, and with the prior knowledge I had learned, I was told to arrive by 6:00 p.m. Once again, I arrived early, at 5:45 p.m., as Xaviera suggested in an email, because I would rather be early than late. 

Doors opened at 6:30 p.m., and the volunteer ushers, along with paid staff members, had their debrief downstairs since the Meet-and-Greet was still happening after an hour. The debrief was mainly for the staff members, but most of the ushers were curious about what was going on that night, too.  

The second mezzanine was a lot easier than the first because of the knowledge that I had already gained the other night, and I only slipped up once throughout the whole time. There were 13,000 people who attended the show, which, according to the leading staff member, wasn’t even half-sold. 

At 7:30 p.m., Cian Ducrot, an Irish singer known for his popular Instagram and TikTok video of him and a choir singing “I’ll be Waiting” in his hometown. He was the opening act, performing from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m.

He sang a couple of songs from his discography and a couple of new ones that haven’t even been released yet, which he teased should be released soon, and ended with “I’ll Be Waiting,” which was the only song I actually recognized. Intermission followed the same drill as the night of Oct. 12.  

Calum Scott, a British singer who competed on Britain’s Got Talent in 2015, started his set at 8:30 p.m. and sang songs from his first album “Only Human,” which consisted of “You Are The Reason,” and a cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own.”

He also went through his second album, “Bridges,” and teased songs from his third album, but at around 9 p.m. I ended my second round of ushering since it was the end of the night, and I didn’t want to do another shift super late. 

Both nights as an usher were incredible and insightful, and I hope people plan to sign up as volunteers and get to experience the process for themselves.