Community Theater Green Room Discussion Board: box office comedy

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maureen
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Joined: 7/12/06
Location: Canada
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Topic: box office comedy
Posted: 7/13/06 at 12:03am

Hi there,I am doing a box office spoof for our annual company cabaret in august and would love some ideas or suggestions on hilarious things that happen to box office clerks in live theatre.Searched the web and found NOTHING.I do have an article from the Toronto Sun titled "Why the box office hate you!!" and it's really funny.Thats the kind of material I'm after.Any links or ideas would be fabulous.Thanks

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castMe
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Joined: 11/02/05
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Posts: 206

Posted: 7/15/06 at 12:12pm

I worked at a summer stock theater where the box office staff used fake names when taking orders over the phone. They did this so if there was a customer problem at the window they could say "Mary" had the day off and their name tags wouldn't give them away. Pretty odd when the handsome male customer wanted to meet the friendly girl with the sweet phone voice and the girl at the window (it was she he had spoken to) couldn't fess up. I also heard a hilarious story of a customer who demanded to be let into the locked and darkened theater so she could sit in her seat to be sure it would meet with her royal approval. The box office girl (bless her heart and with much more patience than I could or would ever muster) trekked back and forth 8 or 9 times between theater and box office to check the computer to see what else was available for the "Most Demanding Customer You Are Ever Likely to Meet". She got her payback after 45 minutes when she was able to tell this woman the seats she had originally requested had just been sold. Woman ended up with less comfortable and less desirable balcony seats. This woman now orders strictly by phone and takes what she's offered.

Investigate. Imagine. Choose.

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DWolfman
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Joined: 7/07/05
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Posts: 134

Posted: 7/17/06 at 10:51am

A problem I've run into (unfortunately) dealt with a black box presentation where the seats are moveable chairs in a small thrust space. The configuration was set to prevent spillover light from going right into the audience members' eyes. However, the house manager one evening decided she could get several more tickets sold by pushing more chairs into those spaces. The director (me) finally had to tell her if any more tickets were sold (or chairs pushed), the show would not go on. As I had worried, several of the patrons in said sections had to use their programs as visors to watch the show.

Adapting that to your theme, I could just imagine the frenzy a box office would have with a battle between director and stage manager who continually add and subtract the number of seats to be sold.

Even a man who is pure of heart...

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Shatcher
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Joined: 2/21/05
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Posted: 7/17/06 at 10:53am

When I did summer stock the guy who ran the company was so cheep that we had to erase the names and such from the ticket enveolpes so they could be reused. the aprentices has to do this backstage during shows! this was the same guy who would have them wash out the paper cups the cast used backstage for water and coffee. Gross, we ended up buying our own.

One more story from that summer: While I was SM for Phantom I also had to work boxoffice and house manage. the theatre was a converted old barn with canvas walls. anywhy we had a killer storm and lighting hit the building just as Christine starts to sing the Bistro number. not only did the cd skip and the actress jump right out of her wig, but we lost power to almost all of the building the lights and sound on stage were working but the rest of the power was out I had to have the spot op run the rest of act one while I went and fornd lanterns and flashlights to get the 600 blue hairs out of the theatre and through the 2 bathrooms. the producer (yeah the cheep one) sat in his office the whole night and did not help at all. Needless to say I never went back to that summer theatre.

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Juror #3
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Joined: 9/28/06
Location: United States
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Posts: 31

Posted: 10/06/06 at 3:44pm

I can make a few suggestions that involve dealing with those who patronize your theatre:
1) The person who is outraged that he does not have HIS usual seats.

2) The person who comes on the wrong night and announces grandly that they will sit anywhere, "backstage if you prefer."

3) The man and woman who bring children to a show that has been clearly advertised as having adult themes and language and then tells you blithely that the theatre should not do a show that the whole family cannot watch together as they demand their money back.

4) The happy-go-lucky drunks that show up for a performance of "Agnes of God", thinking its another "Nunsense."

5) The people who bring food into the auditorium after intermission and munch on it while crackling the bag it came in for the first 20 minutes of the second act.

6) The older couple who complains to you that your theatre never does good British farce anymore during the intermission of "Noises Off."

7) The group of six whose spokesman puts you and your ticket person through holy hell for two weeks with their demands and then doesn't show for the night they demanded center section tickets (eight of them).

Juror #3

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suzecue1
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Joined: 9/19/06
Location: United States
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Posts: 90

Posted: 10/07/06 at 10:29am

Not exactly a box office event. How about the usher who arrives a half hour after the show starts, sits in an empty seat in the back (to see his free show) and procedes to fall asleep and starts to snore......very loudly.

Sue
*****
So many hats.....so few heads!

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eveharrington
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Joined: 8/28/06
Location: United States
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Posts: 198

Posted: 10/07/06 at 3:33pm

I don't know if this quite fits with your theme, but one of the theaters I work with is very small and has the curious policy of selling the tickets out front and then approximatly 4 feet away their tickets are collected by ushers in order to help keep an accurate sold count! I have done the ushering bit and you get some very odd looks from customers, could be an interesting physical bit.

"If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights."

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jphock
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Joined: 10/21/05
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Posted: 10/07/06 at 11:12pm

While it's not technically a box office practice--I was a hotel reservationist and reservations manager for a good bit of my early career. Something I always enjoyed doing might work within the bounds of your parody. I liked to mess with the minds of the customers by coming up with interesting words to use when spelling things back to them...for example E like Eye and, J like Juan, P like Psychology, K like Knock.....you get the drift.

The box office of a theater I work with has the habit of filling the first 4 rows LAST. As an actor...it's always great to look out on rows upon rows of empty chairs if the house is not full.

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lsturdivant
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Joined: 3/25/05
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Posted: 10/08/06 at 7:44am

The story that always makes me shake my head is the day the two older people showed up to a sold out performance with their own folding chairs. The poor lady running the box office came to get me explaining, "They keep saying they live next door, and don't need a reservation."

Linda

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TimW
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Joined: 8/10/06
Location: United States
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Posts: 83

Posted: 10/08/06 at 10:41am

Among helping CT's, I also work for a dinner theatre. When we first opened, a self proclaimed critic(who actually worked for a paper) wanted to attend opening night. He was GIVEN tickets for the second night, but came the first night "I thought they were for tonight". He got lucky that night, but didn't get in until 2 min. before curtain. Also, part the theatre's name is 'playhouse'. One of the first calls recieved was "what time do the girls go on". It gave our box office a good laugh!

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Author	Message
maureen Walk-On Joined: 7/12/06 Location: Canada Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Topic: box office comedy Posted: 7/13/06 at 12:03am
	Hi there,I am doing a box office spoof for our annual company cabaret in august and would love some ideas or suggestions on hilarious things that happen to box office clerks in live theatre.Searched the web and found NOTHING.I do have an article from the Toronto Sun titled "Why the box office hate you!!" and it's really funny.Thats the kind of material I'm after.Any links or ideas would be fabulous.Thanks

	IP Logged

castMe Celebrity Joined: 11/02/05 Online Status: Offline Posts: 206	Posted: 7/15/06 at 12:12pm
	I worked at a summer stock theater where the box office staff used fake names when taking orders over the phone. They did this so if there was a customer problem at the window they could say "Mary" had the day off and their name tags wouldn't give them away. Pretty odd when the handsome male customer wanted to meet the friendly girl with the sweet phone voice and the girl at the window (it was she he had spoken to) couldn't fess up. I also heard a hilarious story of a customer who demanded to be let into the locked and darkened theater so she could sit in her seat to be sure it would meet with her royal approval. The box office girl (bless her heart and with much more patience than I could or would ever muster) trekked back and forth 8 or 9 times between theater and box office to check the computer to see what else was available for the "Most Demanding Customer You Are Ever Likely to Meet". She got her payback after 45 minutes when she was able to tell this woman the seats she had originally requested had just been sold. Woman ended up with less comfortable and less desirable balcony seats. This woman now orders strictly by phone and takes what she's offered.
	Investigate. Imagine. Choose.
	IP Logged

DWolfman Celebrity Joined: 7/07/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 134	Posted: 7/17/06 at 10:51am
	A problem I've run into (unfortunately) dealt with a black box presentation where the seats are moveable chairs in a small thrust space. The configuration was set to prevent spillover light from going right into the audience members' eyes. However, the house manager one evening decided she could get several more tickets sold by pushing more chairs into those spaces. The director (me) finally had to tell her if any more tickets were sold (or chairs pushed), the show would not go on. As I had worried, several of the patrons in said sections had to use their programs as visors to watch the show. Adapting that to your theme, I could just imagine the frenzy a box office would have with a battle between director and stage manager who continually add and subtract the number of seats to be sold.
	Even a man who is pure of heart...
	IP Logged

Shatcher Celebrity Joined: 2/21/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 251	Posted: 7/17/06 at 10:53am
	When I did summer stock the guy who ran the company was so cheep that we had to erase the names and such from the ticket enveolpes so they could be reused. the aprentices has to do this backstage during shows! this was the same guy who would have them wash out the paper cups the cast used backstage for water and coffee. Gross, we ended up buying our own. One more story from that summer: While I was SM for Phantom I also had to work boxoffice and house manage. the theatre was a converted old barn with canvas walls. anywhy we had a killer storm and lighting hit the building just as Christine starts to sing the Bistro number. not only did the cd skip and the actress jump right out of her wig, but we lost power to almost all of the building the lights and sound on stage were working but the rest of the power was out I had to have the spot op run the rest of act one while I went and fornd lanterns and flashlights to get the 600 blue hairs out of the theatre and through the 2 bathrooms. the producer (yeah the cheep one) sat in his office the whole night and did not help at all. Needless to say I never went back to that summer theatre.
	IP Logged

Juror #3 Lead Joined: 9/28/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 31	Posted: 10/06/06 at 3:44pm
	I can make a few suggestions that involve dealing with those who patronize your theatre: 1) The person who is outraged that he does not have HIS usual seats. 2) The person who comes on the wrong night and announces grandly that they will sit anywhere, "backstage if you prefer." 3) The man and woman who bring children to a show that has been clearly advertised as having adult themes and language and then tells you blithely that the theatre should not do a show that the whole family cannot watch together as they demand their money back. 4) The happy-go-lucky drunks that show up for a performance of "Agnes of God", thinking its another "Nunsense." 5) The people who bring food into the auditorium after intermission and munch on it while crackling the bag it came in for the first 20 minutes of the second act. 6) The older couple who complains to you that your theatre never does good British farce anymore during the intermission of "Noises Off." 7) The group of six whose spokesman puts you and your ticket person through holy hell for two weeks with their demands and then doesn't show for the night they demanded center section tickets (eight of them).
	Juror #3
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suzecue1 Star Joined: 9/19/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 90	Posted: 10/07/06 at 10:29am
	Not exactly a box office event. How about the usher who arrives a half hour after the show starts, sits in an empty seat in the back (to see his free show) and procedes to fall asleep and starts to snore......very loudly.
	Sue ***** So many hats.....so few heads!
	IP Logged

eveharrington Celebrity Joined: 8/28/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 198	Posted: 10/07/06 at 3:33pm
	I don't know if this quite fits with your theme, but one of the theaters I work with is very small and has the curious policy of selling the tickets out front and then approximatly 4 feet away their tickets are collected by ushers in order to help keep an accurate sold count! I have done the ushering bit and you get some very odd looks from customers, could be an interesting physical bit.
	"If nothing else, there's applause... like waves of love pouring over the footlights."
	IP Logged

jphock Lead Joined: 10/21/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 35	Posted: 10/07/06 at 11:12pm
	While it's not technically a box office practice--I was a hotel reservationist and reservations manager for a good bit of my early career. Something I always enjoyed doing might work within the bounds of your parody. I liked to mess with the minds of the customers by coming up with interesting words to use when spelling things back to them...for example E like Eye and, J like Juan, P like Psychology, K like Knock.....you get the drift. The box office of a theater I work with has the habit of filling the first 4 rows LAST. As an actor...it's always great to look out on rows upon rows of empty chairs if the house is not full.
	IP Logged

lsturdivant Walk-On Joined: 3/25/05 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 0	Posted: 10/08/06 at 7:44am
	The story that always makes me shake my head is the day the two older people showed up to a sold out performance with their own folding chairs. The poor lady running the box office came to get me explaining, "They keep saying they live next door, and don't need a reservation." Linda
	Linda
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TimW Star Joined: 8/10/06 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 83	Posted: 10/08/06 at 10:41am
	Among helping CT's, I also work for a dinner theatre. When we first opened, a self proclaimed critic(who actually worked for a paper) wanted to attend opening night. He was GIVEN tickets for the second night, but came the first night "I thought they were for tonight". He got lucky that night, but didn't get in until 2 min. before curtain. Also, part the theatre's name is 'playhouse'. One of the first calls recieved was "what time do the girls go on". It gave our box office a good laugh!
	IP Logged

Topic: box office comedy( Topic Closed)
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