With live productions resuming after nearly 18 months, the Long Beach Shakespeare Company (LBSC) is looking for volunteers to help run its theatre lobby and work behind the scenes on shows.
LBSC’s intimate Helen Borgers Theatre, at 4250 Atlantic Ave. in Bixby Knolls—named for the theatre company’s founder and first artistic director—is run entirely by volunteers, Producer Dana Leach told the Signal Tribune. It needs to rebuild its staff since resuming live performances in August, when it staged “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and also offered it for streaming.
“Many of our volunteers have moved, gone off to college or had changes in their circumstances that left them unable to continue,” Leach said.
After theatres shut in March 2020 due to the pandemic, LBSC created several streaming play productions with a crew of only five, who designed and built sets and props, created costumes and ran sound and lighting.
“We miss the energy of collaboration with others—the excitement they bring to being part of the production and the fun and laughs we have working along the way,” Leach said.
LBSC is seeking everything from front-house staff—greeters, ticket-takers and a bookkeeper—to backstage technical crews, including set designers, builders and painters; a lighting designer; and a tech-booth operator to run sound and light changes during shows.
“Every job is important to make the magical experience of live theatre,” Leach said, adding that volunteers can earn practical experience and develop skills for working in the theatre and film industries. LBSC offers on-the-job training for some positions.
“We all volunteer for different reasons,” Leach said. “Some for the love of volunteering, others for the memory of Helen Borgers, others for the love of classical theatre.”
Volunteers get two complimentary tickets for any production they work on, Leach said. They can also choose which dates to work, though design crews need to sync with the production schedule.
Upcoming LBSC productions after October include a holiday show with puppets and “A Christmas Carol” radio play. The theatre plans to stage four plays in 2022 and offer several radio plays, including its traditional “War of the Worlds” again next October.
“We have come out strong creatively,” Leach said about post-pandemic LBSC. “We have learned how to do things in a completely different way, learned to be flexible and even tightened our budget.”
Interested volunteers can check LBSC’s website at LBShakespeare.org for more information. They can then send an email to Info@LBShakespeare.org with “Volunteer” in the subject line and explain the position(s) they are interested in the email.
“We consider everyone that helps keep the theatre going to be family,” Leach said. “We work together, laugh together, sometimes cry together, but we always support each other.”
