9/10/2021
Discovering The Smith Center
As Mary Richard has worked as a Smith Center usher since its 2012 opening, her returning to the job with the center’s reopening doesn’t just feel like coming back to work.
It feels like coming home.
“I can still remember my heart pumping for joy and my bursting emotions when I walked into the Grand Lobby on my first day of work,” she says. “Now, I will enjoy that thrill once again for our reopening.”
Like the rest of The Smith Center’s staff, Richard didn’t know what to expect when the center closed its doors in March 2020 after the pandemic hit.
For the ensuing 500-plus days that its stages remained dark, she filled the time and her drive for community service in many ways, such as making pet blankets for animal shelters, purging closets for charity donations and drafting a children’s book.
Now, with The Smith Center rehiring prior employees still available after the long intermission, Richard looks forward to helping present music, theater and dance for her community again.
“I feel so blessed and honored to be rehired and become a continuing Smith Center family member,” she says. “I look forward to serving the guests and assisting them in enjoying The Smith Center experience — a true treasure for Las Vegas.”
A Lifelong Performer
Working at The Smith Center always marked an ideal fit for Richard, a lifelong entertainer herself.
Performing since the age of 3, she built a career as a singer, dancer and actress that included performing Off-Broadway and appearing in feature films such as “Miss Congeniality.”
She still looks back fondly on working on “Miss Congeniality” and filming a scene with Sandra Bullock where the leading actress had to push Richard out of the way.
“After the scene was over, Sandra Bullock apologized that she many have pushed me too hard,” Richard remembers. “I told her it was OK, and we both laughed about it. She was so sweet.”
Richard continues to sing, dance and act with the Sun City Anthem Performing Arts Club, and works as a choreographer with a variety of Las Vegas dance troupes.
Also a Zumba instructor, she taught free virtual Zumba classes to Smith Center staff during the lockdown.
“(Performing) enriches my life,” Richard says.
An Employee, Volunteer and Patron
Because of Richard’s innate love for the arts, she hasn’t just worked at The Smith Center.
Beyond her paid hours at The Smith Center, a nonprofit organization, she has also ushered many additional hours as a volunteer.
“I keep volunteering for the sake of devoting more hours to this wonderful entertainment venue,” says Richard, who has volunteered over 1,000 hours at the center. “The Smith Center staff are a joy to work with, and the shows are spectacular.”
For that same reason, she also remains a season ticket holder for The Smith Center’s Broadway Las Vegas® Series.
Richard anticipates both ushering and taking a seat as an audience member once more.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the guests, staff, crew, fellow coworkers, and of course, all the artists,” Richard says. “The look on someone’s face when they first walk into The Smith Center, whether it’s the Myron’s venue or the Reynolds Hall, brings joy to me.”