Nothing special – right? WRONG! Many people do not realize that the night before a main stage show opens, we open our doors for a special opportunity for the community to preview the show before Opening Night. It really helps to have an audience, so the actors and crew get used to the timing of audience reaction. This opportunity to see the final rehearsal is general seating and at a reduced admission rate. Next year’s admission will be $5.00 per person for non-musicals and $10 for musicals.

Opening our doors for the public to see this final dress rehearsal is not always easy to pull off. Although it is still a dress rehearsal, we try our best to pull out all the stops to make it as close to a polished performance as possible. Civic Theatre is very fortunate to have a talented group of volunteers devoted to making this last rehearsal before Opening Night an enjoyable experience for our audience.

Imagine... Tickets do not go on sale until 5:30pm and people have been waiting out in the cold for sometimes hours for this special opportunity to see a final dress rehearsal. By the time they get in the door they may be a little cranky. And that’s where our valuable volunteers are ready to welcome our audience with smiles and Civic hospitality.

As you might already be thinking, once the doors finally open at 5:30 these volunteers have not always been met with the greatest of cheer. They have been yelled at, had to deal with pushing crowds, and at times they have not been treated very kindly. But they are committed and keep coming back to help make this opportunity possible for our audience. Our volunteers do absolutely everything on this evening, from selling the tickets, to helping people find their seats. It is totally run by volunteers. Sometimes, when we sell out the house, they don’t even get a seat to watch the show themselves. This whole process is managed by one very committed volunteer, Lou VanderHave, who coordinates all the details and schedules the other volunteers. Lou makes it all happen.

So, without further ado, please let us share the names of these wonderful volunteers:

Gene Fortune
Troy Johnson
Jack Systma
Bob Goudzwaard
Amy Mead
Lou VanderHave
Vern Herring
John Mulder
Cindy Voss
Jeff Hendrickson
Maurice Slayton
Chuck & Rose Wieten

These volunteers are Civic’s Unsung Heroes of Dress Rehearsal Night Madness. It can be quite crazy out in the lobby on these nights. But I must say, as the Director of Volunteers, I don’t know what I would do without them!

THANK YOU, MOST VALUABLE VOLUNTEERS!
Mary Jo DeNolf, Director of Volunteers & Operations, Grand Rapids Civic Theatre & School of Theatre Arts


Learn more about all the volunteer opportunities available at the Civic Theatre.