Backstage at the CSO: Jenise Sheppard, house manager at Symphony Ctr.

Spend a few minutes with Jenise Sheppard, house manager at Symphony Center, and some attributes quickly become apparent: abundant intelligence, a warm smile and a natural amiability.

As they (Sheppard uses “they/them” pronouns) settle into their third season in the role, they couldn’t be happier. “It’s fun,” Sheppard said. “It’s really good fun. I love that I made a career in the arts. I love that I show up every night, and it’s about getting the show going. It’s about facilitating this live, theatrical experience for people.”

When Sheppard graduated a semester early from St. Louis’ Washington University in December 2021 with a degree in environmental science, they were fascinated with “decarbonizing the electrical grid” and thought they would get a job in that field. But they struggled to land even an unpaid internship.

But the South Side native, who spent most of their childhood in Beverly, didn’t fret. They just pivoted to their other major, in drama, appearing in productions around the city and even winning an award for best featured actor in their first professional outing.

“I was really enjoying it for a long time,” Sheppard said, “but that artist’s lifestyle kind of catches up to you, and you’re like, ‘Am I going to be a starving artist forever? Am I going to move out of Mom’s house one of these days?’ ”

Then Sheppard learned that the CSOA had an opening for its house manager role, and they saw the position as way to pivot yet again and put their theatrical experience to work helping with another kind of stage performance.

Sheppard admits that they knew little about the CSO or, indeed, classical music in general. But they believe that their background can help them relate to others, who might not know about what the CSO has to offer or who feel intimidated by classical music.

“There is a lot more opportunity to reach people who are at our backdoor,” they said. “I believe there is endless potential and opportunity to reach people who are Chicagoans and those who are outside of Chicago and introduce them to this music because I myself was somebody who wasn’t introduced to this music.”

At the same time, they feel it’s important to make newcomers feel welcome while also promoting respectful audience practices. “I think that is another huge aspect of front of house: finding that balance so that everyone feels like they can have a good experience even if they don’t know all the standards, or they don’t know that they shouldn’t clap between the movements [of a work].”

Sheppard replaced Charles Braico, formerly a house manager with Broadway in Chicago, who had served in the Symphony Center role since 2012. “Everyone loved Charles and all of his work,” they said. “It felt like big shoes to fill. Even though I was stressed out, I’ve always been a high achiever, I’ve always been a high performer, and I wasn’t going to allow myself to fail.”

Sheppard spoke to Experience CSO about what the position of house manager entails and what it took for them to feel comfortable in the role:

You had to do some learning on the job.

It’s true. It’s very funny, because I didn’t think that being a house manager was a career. I didn’t know very much. It wasn’t where my focus had been. It was a lot of on-the-job learning. It was a lot of using what I knew and learning from my mistakes as I made them to just acclimate quickly.

Describe a typical day for you. On a Thursday, if there is a symphony concert, what is the day like?

I usually get there around 2 o’clock. Have a meeting or two, and then I’m getting ready for the concert. I’m talking with maintenance, electricians and engineers to make sure that the hall is ready to accept patrons. I’m doing my own research about the program — who’s performing. I try do a little research about what the pieces are or who the soloists are, so I can share that with the ushers. We do so many concerts, so having a little fun fact every day [for them] is helpful. My ushers arrive at 5:30 p.m. I get them prepped. I get them ready. I get the house open. I answer questions from patrons.

What time does the house open?

At 6:45 p.m. for the concert. 6 o’clock for the pre-concert lecture.

How many red-jacketed ushers are there?

My staff is about 65 to 70. There are a lot.

Are they full time or part time?

Part-time. A lot of them are regulars. Some of them work upward of 20 hours a week.

So part of your job is to deploy them — to set up the scheduling?

Their scheduling and their hiring.

Are you doing a lot of hiring, or is there quite a bit of stability?

I’m always hiring because there is a lot of turnover with part-time staff.  Sometimes their health gets in the way or other challenges get in the way. A lot of the ushers like the job because they are retired, and they’ve already had their careers, and it’s a little extra money on the side.

You also have to do the training as well.

It’s great. I’ve got a coat-check attendant who’s been there for 17 years. One of my supervisors has been there for 45 years. It’s great to have an experienced staff, but as a house manager, you really get to set the standard for the level of customer service that patrons can expect when they come into the hall. So, there is always some nuance, some subjectivity you can give them [the ushers] about how you want them to interact with patrons or what you think is going to provide the best experience to the patrons who are coming into the hall.

When the hall opens open at 6:45 p.m., what are you doing at that point?

Handling anything that might come up. Medical emergencies. Checking in doctors. Talking to backstage staff. Figuring out if things are changing on the fly.

What does checking in doctors mean?

We have a relationship where we invite doctors to most of our performances, which is a great relief to me because I majored in drama. When I get a medical emergency, I’m a little out of my depth.

You have patrons who are doctors who are willing to be on call in case something happens?

Yes.

How many do you have per concert?

Typically, two doctors per night.

If something happens you can go and alert them.

Stuff happens all the time.

Other problems might be two people with tickets for the same seat or they think they have the tickets for the same seat, and you have to sort that out?

Yeah, that happens a lot. We have a lot of problems with third-party firms — Ticketmaster, things of that sort. People who aren’t buying tickets off our website. There is also, in addition to all the concerts we have, all these audience-engagement and auxiliary events we have, from the Latino Alliance to the Overture Council and the Governing Members, and making sure the people planning those events are happy with the outcomes, too.

So you have to deal with the development department, etc.?

That’s the whole thing about front of house. It interacts with every single department — development, marketing and the Negaunee Music Institute. I’m part of the operations department myself, but there is not a single department at the CSO that I don’t interact with.

How many days to you work a work during the season?

Six to seven. If I get two days off during a week, I’m very lucky.

If there is an event, you have to be there.

If there is an event, I have to be there. Yeah. But a lot of people at the CSO work a lot.

What do you like about being a house manager? You must like dealing with people, since you are doing a lot of that.

My favorite part and the part I like to facilitate the most is just maintaining a level of respect and reverence that we give the artists onstage. I’m an artist myself. If you think back to early modern England and Shakespeare’s time, actors were regarded as [next to] prostitutes. Seeing the growth from that culture around art and artistry to what we see at the CSO when they [the musicians] are in their concert dress, and they have all these stagehands working and facilitating [their performances] — 500 or so full-time and part-time employes. Just the level of orchestration that it takes to make this work, and I’m happy to play my part in the respect that these artists are given.

But there are challenges. People get mad when their tickets are messed up, and you have to be able to take it down a notch or two.

I find the best tool in dealing with a frustrated patron is sometimes just introducing yourself to them, just saying, “Hello, my name is . . .” They introduce themselves to you, and then all of sudden, you are on even ground. It just calms them down a little bit. There is some aspect of psychology in it.

Something I like to remind my ushers is that we are at work, but these people who are coming as patrons who just got off a long day at work. They’re there to relax. They spent their fun money for the month to see this show tonight, and they want to have a good experience, and we are the people they see. And it’s important that we, as front of house, maintain the integrity of all the work that is done by all these different departments. When the concert starts, it’s me and my ushers and it’s the maintenance, electricians, engineers and stagehands. We are the people who are responsible for making sure it runs smoothly for everyone and that everyone’s work is honored.