Richardson Auditorium erupted with applause as singer Cécile McLorin Salvant and her musical accompaniment stepped onstage. For the audience, the performance was just beginning. But for the Richardson staff, this show, like any other, was the product of hours, days, and in some cases weeks of preparation.
“Service excellence”
At Richardson Auditorium, an almost 200 member staff consists of volunteers, Princeton students, community members, and University employees. The team’s diverse roles are connected by a common goal of supporting the performer and audience experience. Across the board, the staff of Richardson have gained pride for their work towards this goal, and established a strong community.
Richardson is the main venue for student performances, as well as Princeton University Concerts (PUC), which brings world-renowned guest artists to campus for an accessible ticket price. Richardson staff work with performers to meet their stage needs and create a positive patron experience, following a model which Sharon L. Maselli, Audience Services Manager at Richardson, called “service excellence” in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
The Richardson staff fall broadly into two categories: front of house and back of house. Front of house staff interact with the patrons, while the back of house, or production, staff work behind the scenes, running the technical elements of each show.
Back of house
The back of house crew are “the people that you don’t see, but if they weren’t there, the show would fall apart,” Maselli said to the ‘Prince.’
Responsible for lights, audio, and overall show production, the back of house staff play a vital role in the choreography of each show. A lighting specialist works with the artists to create their desired lighting effects prior to and during each performance. Before shows, the crew sets up the stage with instruments and equipment. Professional pianist Jonathan Biss even played both of the Auditorium’s pianos to determine which would be better for one performance.
Once doors open, the stage manager and house manager communicate through headsets about the performance, while production’s job is to cue lighting and audio as appropriate.
“For a concert, we usually say when it starts,” stage manager Julio Montero says. “And then we let the concert go.”
During a concert, other back of house staffers like sound engineers sit at a soundboard inside the auditorium and listen to the music through a headset, adjusting the mics in real time to make sure, as Maselli said, “that the audience hears a combined sound.” Meanwhile, in a small room filled with sound equipment, another audio specialist records the concert for future listening.
Student employees
While the back of house consists entirely of hired professionals, the front of house team is a mix of part time adult staff, Princeton student employees, and volunteer ushers from the local community. Maselli, usher program coordinator Ayame Whitfield ’21, and Sarah Spalding, student program coordinator, collectively oversee 184 people.
For the Princeton student employees, work at Richardson has evolved into a hierarchical system akin to a career path.
“It became clear to us that students have so many opportunities at Princeton. It’s amazing what all you can choose. And, we have this job to offer but we want to make it really worthwhile. And, students are so incredibly capable that to have them just come in and hold a door or take a ticket seat is an underutilization of their abilities. So, we thought, let’s create a career path for them to have opportunities for leadership and management development and soft skill development,” Maselli said.
Students begin this “career path” as “Event Assistants,” working with the professional staff and volunteers to create a welcoming experience for patrons, according to the Richardson website. An Event Assistant can become a Lead Event Assistant, Student Manager, and then House Manager, increasing in responsibility and pay as they climb the ranks. A Lead Event Assistant is the right hand to the House Manager, who assists production and supervises student and volunteer front-of-house staff during and outside of a performance. Student Managers, typically students in their junior year, serve as mentors to the Event Assistants. Students are not required to advance.
Talia Czuchlewski ’26 is currently a Lead Event Assistant at Richardson. Describing her job in an interview to the ‘Prince,’ she said, “We have responsibilities as team leaders and also as event leaders.”
During a shift, students, recognizable by their orange scarves, can set up the auditorium prior to patron arrival, be greeters or ushers, or work in the balcony, while simultaneously ensuring audience satisfaction and, as they ascend the ranks, managing other students and volunteer ushers.
“It’s real, hands-on work,” Czuchlewski said.
Part-time employees fill in gaps when students are unavailable. “We do the best we can and whatever we can,” Jocelyn Starr, a member of the adult staff, told the ‘Prince.’
Volunteers
Richardson ushers are volunteers, a mix of adult community members and high school students. Many adult ushers came to Richardson through the Joint Ushers for McCarter and Princeton (JUMP) program, which shares ushers between McCarter Theater and Richardson Auditorium, while high school student ushers come to Richardson through the Community Arts Service in Theaters (CAST) program.
Launched in 2023, the CAST program now partners with 10 high schools in the Princeton area, helping students interested in the arts fulfill their community service graduation requirement in a sector with fewer opportunities for service.
“[T]his opportunity to both appreciate and enjoy the arts but also to actively support it through service,” Whitfield told the ‘Prince.’ “That’s a huge part of the draw of this [volunteer] program.”
A strong Richardson community
Several members of Richardson’s staff told the ‘Prince’ that the best part of their work was not the special concert access as one might expect, but rather the theater community.
“I think we all know each other really well at Richardson,” Whitfield said.
To foster community amongst its workers, Richardson hosts annual holiday parties and a spring dinner, as well as a group training in the fall.
“We have this beautiful Christmas party,” volunteer usher Colleen Marsh told the ‘Prince.’ “We have a meal onstage, and then we have a sing-along … And every spring, we have a dinner with somebody different from the Princeton community.” She added, “They treat us like gold.”
A newsletter highlighting different workers also releases quarterly to all the staff, including students, part-time adult staff, and volunteers.
“One of my favorite things about [working at Richardson] is that I get to interact with a larger community than just Princeton,” Czuchlewski said.
Richardson leaders also emphasize workplace equality. Once they have trained for and shadowed a position twice, anyone can work any position, so on a given night, a student may manage an adult staff member, or the other way around. Plus, since lead staffers Maselli, Whitfield, and Spalding work shows as well, they get on the ground experience of what does and does not work for their employees and volunteers. In fact, Whitfield worked every show last year as the CAST program launched.
“One thing that has stayed true since I started working as Usher Program Coordinator is that the ushers are not afraid to offer feedback. They will tell me if they think I could do something better or if Richardson could do something better … Ultimately, I’m really proud of being in charge of a program like that where people feel comfortable offering feedback, expressing themselves. It tells me that they feel respected and valued enough to give feedback and make what we do better,” Whitfield said.
The staff are indeed proud of their work supporting world-class performances and believe the opportunities at Richardson are underutilized, especially by students. Echoing many of her coworkers, Maselli encouraged students to use their Passport to the Arts to come see shows at Richardson.
“It’s a hidden gem on campus,” Maselli said.
Annika Plunkett is a contributing writer for The Prospect and a member of the Newsletter team. She can be reached at ap3616[at]princeton.edu.
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