Volunteering at Footlighters

Footlighters theater would not be possible without the thousands of dedicated volunteers of all ages and skill levels, who contribute their time and talents towards creating award-winning community theater. Footlighters is an all-volunteer group, there are no paid positions.

Opportunities

We currently have immediate opportunities available in:

Hospitality • Ticket Office • Building Maintenance • Costumes

So why would I want to get involved?

Here are some reasons:

• Learn a new skill - For example, scene decorating, stage carpentry, preparing impossible-to-obtain props, sewing spectacular costumes, professional stage management, theater administration leadership, and volunteer organization. We also have many opportunities where no prior skill is required. We will teach you.
• Dabble in a career in theater - Perhaps you'd like to find out first-hand what theater is all about...without the expense of moving to NYC.
• Have a real sense of accomplishment - There's nothing better than to experience the thrill of hearing an excited audience that is truly enjoying a show that you helped in some personal way in making it a success.
• Make new friends - There are plenty of friendly people of all ages who will always greet you with a smile, are happy to see you, and grateful for your enthusiasm to help them out.
• Community Service - Perhaps you just want to "give back" to the community you've grown up in, or get to know neighbors in the one you just moved to.
• Extra Credit - Your school may give you extra credit for volunteering at a theater.

How to Participate

There are a variety of areas of interest where you can volunteer your time in a creative, meaningful way. Read over this page and thoroughly explore our website. It will give you a good idea of who we are and what we are involved in. If we look appealing, and you feel that you would like to give us a try, click on the sign up button and indicate your interest in volunteering. Our volunteer coordinator, (see below) will contact you by e-mail or phone to possibly set up a personal appointment for a call or interview and maybe a tour of our treasured, historic facility. Footlighters is housed in the first "black" primary school in Cinnaminson.

He will then connect you with our technical directors, who will advise you when our crew work party will assemble. It's that simple! Participation opportunities depends on Footlighters current needs.

Position Descriptions - There are plenty of possibilities for YOU!

BOOK SALES - One of Footlighters important fund raisers is our pre-owned book sale, where patrons browse for their favorite books during intermission. You can assist our librarian with sorting and displaying the many donated books.

BOX OFFICE - You can assist the box office manager with mailing out tickets, ticket exchanges, manning the box office during production nights, and telephone follow-up. We do not cold-call anyone. Other duties may include clerical assistance, computer entry, mailings, and transporting mailings to the post office.

Assisting patrons with ticket sales. Creating costumes for our children's production.

COSTUMES - Assist with the design, preparation, and adjustment of costumes during dress rehearsals and productions. Help the cast with costume changes between scenes. Make minor costume repairs on the fly during a production.

FACILITIES - Assist our facilities director with the many ongoing projects involving our historic school building, including carpentry, painting, plumbing, housekeeping and groundskeeping, among others.

FUND RAISING - Find creative fund raising events to raise money to support the many Footlighters activities, such as flea markets, art sales, and building rental.

GRANT WRITING - Research and develop grant proposals from government, companies and charitable foundations.

Assisting the cast with a costume adjustment. Preparing curtains for use on the set.

GRAPHICS AND PICTURE BOARD - Help design promotional materials for each production and special event, including our playbills. Create front-lobby picture board displays.

GROUP SALES - Find creative ways to solicit ticket sales to outside organizations. They are popular, and usually a sell-out.

HISTORIAN - Help maintain historic files documenting Footlighters activities. Prepare historical scrapbook detailing our 69+ years of community theater using photos, newspaper articles and pictures of group events.

Placing props on the set before a production. Preparing the set for the next act.

HOUSE MANAGERS - Experience being the House Manager in charge of a performance. The chairman provides a written list of responsibilities for the House Manager to follow, and meets with House Managers prior to opening night to review duties. Rehearse the curtain speech. Check with the President for announcements. This might be your chance to get on stage.

HOSPITALITY - Assist with hosting light snacks and drinks prior to intermission, to include setting up the hospitality bar, serving the drinks to patrons (with a smile and light conversation) and putting things away after the intermission. Supplies are provided in advance.

LIGHTS - Assist with lighting for all productions including design, setting lighting instruments, and operating light board during performances.
MAKEUP - Assist with makeup during rehearsals and productions, including making young actors look old and old actors look young.

Applying glow tape to the stage floor for furniture placement. Sound and lighting operators working a show.

PLAYBILLS - Assist with the gathering of bio materials, advertisement copy in preparation of Footlighters playbills.

PROPS - Research, design and collect the variety of props for productions. Think scavenger hunt. What you can't find, you help create.

PUBLICITY - Prepare and arrange interesting publicity, advertisements and articles to draw people to our productions, auditions, membership meetings, and special events. You might even get your name in the paper.

SET - Assist the very experienced (think Broadway) crew with design, construction and decoration of the set for all productions. Learn the concepts of illusion.

SOUND - Select, prepare, gather or create, edit and run the sound effects and music on our computer for all productions. We use first class, professional computer software called Sound Forge.

WORKSHOPS – ADULT AND CHILDREN’S - Assist with all aspects of BCF-sponsored workshops. See our web pages on workshops.

Our Volunteer Requirements

You must:

• Complete our Mailing List sign up form, including the Volunteer section. We will call you to set up a meeting date, and explore your areas of interest,
• Be at least least 16 years of age when you start working with us, and have reliable transportation,
• Have a sense of humor and get along with people with different backgrounds,
• Be willing to learn a new theater skill, or a desire to teach your skills to others.

Footlighters has no minimum hour requirements to be a volunteer. Work as often as you like, and have some fun helping to create award-winning community theater.

Volunteer Appreciation

Footlighters is proud to present a variety of awards to our crew and administrative volunteers at our annual Awards Night in June. We present our production crew with many other awards in addition to awards for acting.

When You are On Board

• If you're new to the theatre, the best place to start is to work a lighter duty job on a show as one of the backstage crew members, or to work as an usher - handing out playbills, showing patrons to seating, or working with our chatty hospitality crew.
• Watch for occasional emails from crew chiefs asking for volunteers. Reply, saying you're interested and alerting them that you're new. We will be expecting you and arrange to provide the introductions and necessary training to get you involved.
• In addition, you may also want to come to a rehearsal to get a grasp of the production and to meet the director, cast and producer. Contact the volunteer coordinator initially for a rehearsal schedule.
• You are welcome to explore a variety of departments before settling on one particular area. Feel free to move around the group until you find the perfect spot.
• Questions? Ask our Volunteer Coordinator at bcfstage@bcfootlighters.com

Copyright 2008 • Burlington County Footlighters, Inc.
All Rights Reserved • Unauthorized Reproduction Prohibited.

Funding has been made possible in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through a grant to the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders.