Years ago, Evelyn Katsion took care of her west suburban house while raising seven children.
Today, she manages another “house”-the Shubert Theatre. And rather than caring for sons and daughters, she deals with another kind of “family,” this one made up of ushers, stage-door and box-office personnel, cleaning crew members and performers.
Katsion, 65, has been the Shubert’s house manager since 1993. She has responsibility for the front of the house.
“That means getting all 2,000 (audience members) into the house each night, making them feel comfortable while they’re here and then seeing them out again at the end of the show,” she says.
Through it all, she remains aware of her responsibilities to the audience. Many people have purchased their tickets three to six months in advance, hired a baby-sitter, dressed up and driven downtown, she says.
“When they come through this door, we have to make it as enjoyable an evening as possible,” she notes. “And the last contact they may have as they leave is with me or an usher, so it’s very important what we say and do.”
Katsion works six days a week, with Mondays off. She begins her shift at 4 p.m. when her husband, Glenn, delivers her to the theater. One of her first duties is to walk upstairs to the mezzanine and balcony levels and unchain all the fire doors.
“We chain them each night after the show to make sure no one can break in and that they don’t blow open during the night and set off alarms,” she says.
“It’s a job I could delegate, but I have to check the whole upper part of the theater for cleanliness anyway. The theater has to be shipshape. There can’t be a piece of gum on a seat, for instance.”
Another preshow duty is checking all fire-exit lights and end-of-aisle lights. About two hours before the show, she also checks all the other lights and inspects the carpeting to make sure it’s properly taped down.
In addition, she talks with the box-office personnel. “They’ll give me the count of the house, tell me how many wheelchairs are coming and let me know if there will be any changes in seating,” she says.
She also handles requests to meet with performers.
“I’ll call down to the stage-door man to let him know the person should be allowed in,” she says. “And everyone who wants an autograph has to see me also. I’ll tell them where to wait in the lobby after the performance” for a visit from performers.
After the ushers arrive, Katsion calls them together for a fire drill about 45 minutes before the performance. She stands at the front of the theater near the stage and blows a whistle. The ushers each go to separate exit doors.
“I blow the whistle again, and they say, `This way out, please,’ ” she says. “They feel strange the first time they do that, but we do it over and over to make them feel comfortable with that duty.”
During the drill, the ushers also open the doors to make sure they don’t stick and aren’t blocked by a car in the alley or some other obstruction.
During the performance, Katsion sits in the lobby to answer questions from people who arrive during the show. They may be coming to pick up audience members, make a delivery or seek information on a future performance.
“When the curtain comes down, I’ll watch the audience exit,” she says.
“I’ll wave to them, talk with a few people I know from the audience and listen to their comments. I can tell a lot about how a show is doing by their comments.”
One of her postshow duties is to gather the hearing aids that the theater distributes free to audience members who request them. Theatergoers who take them leave their driver’s licenses with Katsion, and she returns the licenses when they turn in the hearing aids.
This also is the time when ushers begin reporting items they have found that people have left behind.
“I’ll make a list of the items (in a book) and bring them up to the office on the sixth floor,” she says. “The receptionist will be in that office the next day, and when people call to report that they’ve lost something, she can tell them if it has or hasn’t been found.”
Umbrellas and glasses are common items that the ushers find. “Another big item is jewelry,” Katsion says. “Within the last year, an elderly lady came running up to me and said she’d lost an earring. The earring wasn’t costly, but it had sentimental value because her granddaughter had given it to her.”
She noted the item and wrote down the woman’s name and address-she lived on the East Coast and was visiting relatives in Chicago. Months went by without the earring being found.
“Finally, we found it right in the doorway next to the ticket taker’s box,” says Katsion, chuckling. It had lodged in a small crack.
“We called her at her home in New Jersey and mailed it to her. She was so grateful, of course. She was really excited.”
Her job offers plenty of rewards, Katsion says. “This is really a challenging job. It’s always different dealing with customers. We have a different situation every night.
“Yesterday, someone came to me and said he had a fear of heights. I was able to switch him from an upper-level seat to a seat at the back of the main floor. People are so grateful if you can get them a different seat or help them in some other way.”
Seeing the theater “come to life” is another plus, she says.
When she walks into the balcony in the late afternoon, everything’s dark inside the theater except for a single light, known as the “ghost light,” shining on the stage.
“It’s a neat feeling to gradually see the theater come to life over the next few hours,” she says. “The ushers start coming in, stagehands come in. Everyone has a job to do. It’s a feeling not too many people get to experience.”
She also likes watching everything happen in reverse after the show. By the time she goes to check the main floor and loge at the end of her shift, around 10:30 or 11 p.m., the ghost light is again one of the few lights illuminated.
Katsion also deals with the performers. “I see them on a daily basis,” she says. “If there’s anything they need or if something isn’t working properly downstairs, I try to meet their needs.
“You feel a little strange with them at first because everyone’s new and it’s a huge company. But as time goes on, you become better acquainted as they ask you about restaurants and things to do in Chicago.” Recently a performer asked her about nearby places where he might travel on his day off, and he ended up going to Saugatuck, Mich.
Theater manager Suzanne Bizer praises Katsion’s work. “The combination of her extraordinary personality and her experience makes Evelyn an invaluable asset to the theater,” Bizer says.
The Shubert Theatre, 22 W. Monroe St., opened on New Year’s Day of 1906 as the Majestic Theatre. Originally a vaudeville house, it was the largest building in Chicago when it opened.
The Depression forced the theater to close in 1932, and it remained dark until purchased and renamed by Lee and J.J. Shubert in 1945.
The theater, with a seating capacity of 2,008, was purchased by Nederlander of Chicago Inc. in 1991.
Katsion was born and raised on Chicago’s West Side and graduated from McKinley High School, now closed, in 1946.
She then attended Wright Junior College on the Northwest Side for two years, and received an associate’s degree in liberal arts.
She took a job as an office worker at a large State Street department store, then became a customer-service representative for a telephone company.
She left work in 1950 after marrying, and remained at home to raise her seven children.
She and her husband have lived in River Grove since 1954 and have 17 grandchildren.
In 1987, with all her children grown, Katsion began volunteering as an usher at the Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.
“That theater is one of my other loves,” she says. “I grew up going to movie theaters downtown.” The theater, a one-time movie house, reopened in 1986 with live entertainment.
Katsion ushered there intermittently until about two years ago.
She made friends with several volunteer ushers who also were paid ushers at the Shubert. At their urging, she started ushering at the Shubert for Wednesday matinees.
“I made $9 for ushering, and each time I did, I wound up in the hole,” she says with a laugh. “That’s because I would pay to come down here (on public transportation), buy something at a store, have lunch and that ate up the money I made and more.”
Over the months, she was enlisted for more and more shows at the Shubert until she was working eight shows a week.
“I was happy doing that, but then the head usher left (in 1992), and another usher suggested I apply for that job,” she recalls. “I never did apply, but during a period in which the Shubert was (between shows), the management asked me to take the job and I accepted.”
In 1993, the house manager resigned, and Katsion was given the job. Today, she looks forward to many more years with the theater.
“I just love it,” she says. “It’s always exciting and challenging. What better job could there be in the world? I would not be working if it weren’t for this job.”
