Please Turn off Your Cell Phone!
It is December. It feels like negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside, yet despite the frigid temperature, it’s nearly impossible to get to work amongst the hoards of people slowly meandering down the sidewalk or stopping in the middle of the street to take a photo of a gigantic neon ad. The sound waves are equally as crowded as the streets, as numerous languages intertwine into gibberish, while dozens of promoters try to sell you tickets to comedy shows. This could only be one place in the world: Times Square during the holiday season. Teresa, a street team manager for a Broadway promotions company stood outside for over six hours wearing layers upon layers of pants and jackets. «I could barely move my body since I was so bundled up! Needless to say, it was pretty miserable,» but she quickly added, « I can’t complain too much, because I was well aware of these conditions when I applied for this job!»
Being a «street team» promoter in Times Square is one of the many jobs on Broadway that do not get the spotlight. Although Teresa, a 32-year-old from Brooklyn, New York would prefer to be onstage, she appreciates the opportunity to work in the industry she loves. « I enjoy working behind-the-scenes, since I get to talk to people about theatre all day! My heart definitely belongs to the stage though, but until I book that starring role, having a job that still involves Broadway isn’t a bad survival job.» This tends to be the sentiment amongst several of her colleagues, as well.
Teresa shares with us a bit more of why she does love her job. «My favorite part of the job is getting to constantly talk to people, and helping them make their theatre experience in New York City really awesome! A lot of theatre patrons that I talk to have no idea what to see, besides the shows that they’ve heard of, like Lion King, Wicked, Mamma Mia, Chicago and Phantom of the Opera. It’s really great to educate them, and to open up their eyes to all of the wonderful shows that are on Broadway and off-Broadway, and perhaps ones they would’ve never seen because they had never heard of them and they’re not really advertised.»
Additionally, she’s had some rewarding experiences while working in Times Square that she will have with her for the rest of her life. One night when she was working at Spider-Man: Turn off The Dark, trying to get patrons in line to upgrade their tickets, Teresa spotted an adorable little boy, whose name she learned was Brayden, and began to talk to him. «I went up to him and asked him if he was excited to see Spiderman today, and how old he was, He enthusiastically replied with ‘FOUR!’ and held up four of his fingers.» Teresa made a joke that this meant he was almost halfway to a decade, and the boy’s mother pulled her aside, and told her discretely, «The reason why we’re here is because he has brain cancer, and has less than a year to live.» «My heart sunk,» Teresa says, «I felt like the biggest jerk in the world, so I went to the House Manager and told him about the situation.»
When she later checked with the manager about what happened, it turns out they were able to seat Brayden and his family in the second row and take them backstage after the show, so he could meet his hero, Spiderman. «I’m so happy to have gotten to make Magic happen for Little Brayden! The cool thing about getting to work for Broadway is that you might get opportunities like these to really make a difference in someone’s life, so they will remember that moment for the rest of their lives. And that is pretty awesome!»
Trip down memory lane
Although native New Yorker, Ed Philips, 62, is able to work indoors, he has also experienced the holiday crowds for countless seasons. «Total madness!» He describes it, «Times Square is always crowded with tourists but during the Holiday season it’s just crazy! Besides coming to Broadway to take in a show, people are swarming the area, seeing the sights, and taking millions of photos with their cameras or cell phones. I’m glad the crowds are coming to Broadway and spending money, but I always joke and say, as I’m trying to get to work, «They’re all in my way!»
Ed is currently one of the Front of House staff at The Imperial Theatre on Broadway, where he scans tickets and helps those customers with ticket problems. Growing up in Astoria, Queens, his entire family worked in the industry and he considers himself a «Broadway Baby.» «I knew how to raise a theatre curtain and run a follow spot while still in grade school. I met actors who were ‘Stars’ but I didn’t know it at that time. I remember meeting Sidney Poitier when he was starring in A Raisin In The Sun in 1959 and he shook my hand and called me a ‘handsome little man.’»
Ed started working for The Shubert Organization after college back in 1975, worked in the mailroom of «The Wiz» in the late 70’s, and worked at each of the 17 Shubert owned theatres through the years. In March 1975, a new show was coming to Broadway from L.A. called The Rocky Horror Show. «It was going into The Belasco Theatre, and The Shuberts had removed all the seats in the orchestra and replaced them with tables and chairs like a cabaret. There would be waitresses to serve drinks and popcorn to the audience during the show.» The Shuberts were worried that the audience for this show would be a rough crowd, so they hired twelve young men and women to usher patrons to their tables. One of them was Ed. «It was not like work at all; it was a party every night! We wore black jeans and black t-shirts with Magenta’s face on the front, and of course the drinks and popcorn were free for us. It was a blast!»
Little did anyone know that this show would turn into a movie that is still a cult classic, bringing in hundreds of audiences for midnight shows every weekend, and that the young Texan in the cast who called himself, «meatloaf,» would later go off to become a world famous musician. «The show only ran five weeks and I never understood why it closed so soon; even though it was crowded every night, I guess the producers felt it wasn’t grossing enough money each week--the hard reality of Broadway even back in 1975.»
Disturbing Cell Phones
Like Teresa, Ed is a performer, but he doesn’t do much acting these days. «I loved the work, and was very good at performing, but the constant hunt for the next job was just too exhausting.» When he was performing, he liked the flexibility of his job at the Shubert Theater. They would let him leave and do a play and then return once it was finished. The last play he appeared in was a revival of Moonchildren at The Harold Clurman theatre back in 1983. Why did he stop? «At some point I got tired of having two or three jobs just to eat and pay the rent, so I began to concentrate on other aspects of working in the theatre for some sense of security and steady employment. My running joke is that I’ll go back to acting when I’m older and most of the competition has died!» At the end of the day, Ed’s philosophy is that working on stage is an art, while working behind the scenes is a job.
One of Ed’s favorite things about his job, and the jobs he’s held at countless Broadway theaters is seeing little kids come to a Broadway show for the very first time, «They’re just so excited, and it’s all so new to them,» he says, «I sometimes stand in the back of the theatre during the show and watch their faces. They are mesmerized. Totally enthralled with what’s going on upon that stage! On that night some of those kids may decide that this is what they want to do with their lives. That’s when I remember the magic that live theatre can provide to the audience.»
It’s not always magic, though. «Working with the public in any job is difficult because people act so differently as a group; I’ve seen people do things that they would never do as individuals. There is such a thing as ‘Mob Mentality,’» Ed explains. Ed’s biggest pet peeve, though, is cell phones. «Cell phones continue to be the bane of live theatre, and even though we make an announcement before the show begins, asking people to turn off their phones, at least one per night will ring during the performance.» And what’s worse? Texting! «Some people seem to think that the glow from their cell phone won’t disturb those sitting around them! It’s like people have forgotten how to behave in public and act as they would in their own living room.» Ed jokes that he sometimes is tempted to tell these texters, «You don’t need to check your email during Act One; you’re not that important,» but he refrains.
Overall, Ed and Teresa do this for the same reason. They love this art more than anything in the world. «It’s been fun, and I can’t believe how quickly time has passed,» Ed reminisces. «Yes, there are always bad days and nights, but that’s the same in any job. It’s been a roller coaster ride but never dull,» Ed adds as a final note, «So forget your problems for a few hours and come and see a Broadway show, maybe even a Big, Blockbuster Musical! But I’m begging you, please turn off your cell phone!» ●
Amelia Bienstock is a born-and-bred New Yorker who attended the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Columbia University School of Journalism. With a degree in theater studies, Amelia also writes and performs comedy at The Peoples Improv Theater in Manhattan.