Ask The Smith Center – Answers to Common Guest Questions

When you ask questions, The Smith Center team strives to answer.

Providing the highest-quality guest experience remains a top priority for The Smith Center, and to help with this, the center regularly collects audience feedback through frequent surveys. Often, visitors share similar concerns.

As Chief Experience Officer, Suzanne Chabre oversees all guest-facing employees and remains committed to addressing each visitor’s needs. She works hard to ensure that every aspect of guests’ experiences remains seamless and enjoyable.

With this in mind, Suzanne responds to commonly raised questions below.

Question: Why do some audience members get up and leave before the applause is over?

Suzanne: We receive a lot of feedback from guests who feel frustrated by this behavior. We’re working to raise awareness with all audience members that it is considered poor etiquette to leave early, as this leads to jostling other people, blocking their views and distracting from the excitement on stage.

We respectfully encourage audience members to remain at their seats until the show is completely over, including when the curtain call ends and the applause finishes.

Question: Why do the parking-garage attendants ask us to pay before the show, and then have us show them our parking tickets again as we drive out?

Suzanne: The parking garages by The Smith Center are in fact owned and managed by the City of Las Vegas. That means the garages are not only for Smith Center guests, but also for other downtown visitors. As Smith Center ticket holders pay a special “event rate,” this protocol is the best way for the city to manage who pays the special rate.

Question: What’s the difference between a Smith Center Member and a Smith Center Subscriber?

Suzanne: This is another topic that’s raised some confusion. The term Member refers to anyone who donates to The Smith Center, which is a nonprofit organization. Members provide vital support, as ticket sales only cover 70 percent of the center’s operating costs, and we rely on donations to cover the rest.

Members receive a variety of special benefits, depending on their contribution levels.

On the other hand, the term Subscriber refers to season ticket holders for The Smith Center’s Broadway Las Vegas® Series. Subscribers also enjoy a series of benefits — which differ from Member benefits.

Question: Why can’t I share my mobile tickets?

Suzanne: Good news – now you can! The Smith Center’s mobile tickets now offer this functionality, which took some time to develop after we first introduced mobile ticketing as part of new health and safety protocols.

If you need to share tickets with a friend, or with a group of people seeing the show together, simply log in to your Smith Center mobile wallet, click on the show’s performance date, then click SHARE TICKETS. Just follow the prompts to easily share your tickets via text or email.

You can also meet members of your group at a Smith Center entrance, and an usher can scan all of their tickets on the same phone. Or, your friends can simply purchase their tickets separately.

Question: Some shows in Reynolds Hall occasionally have sound issues. Why does that happen?

Suzanne: We hear a lot of questions about this, and we understand your concern. To explain, most shows that perform on our stage — especially Broadway productions — provide their own sound engineer, their own sound-system equipment and their own sound configurations, with the same set-up used for every theater they visit.  

The Smith Center’s team members can only advise these shows as they install their equipment, and because that equipment is not customized for our theater, some issues can arise.

Question: Why do ushers sometimes interrupt me during the show – like about not taking photos?

Suzanne: Ushers are there to ensure that every guest has a good experience, and they work hard to answer questions, address concerns and help guests navigate our campus. Some touring productions have strict guidelines for their performances — like no photography allowed — so ushers face a balancing act of upholding these guidelines, while also helping guests feel comfortable.

To help ushers accommodate the needs of both guests and performers with utmost efficiency and respect, The Smith Center provides continual training for ushers and the entire front-of-house team.

If you have a question about The Smith Center that you would like to see answered, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Suzanne Chabre is the vice president and chief experience officer for The Smith Center.