2/14/2025
Community Impact
A childhood experience leads to a later-in-life return to the theater
Living a mile and a half from Symphony Park, David Rodriguez saw work begin on the building that would become The Smith Center back in 2009 and came by to see if he could get involved.
A marble mason by trade, Rodriguez figured the new project might need some help during its construction phase. “I knew it was going to be a really nice building, so tried to get on it, but they had enough guys already,” he says. “So I went to City Center and worked on Aria instead.”
But The Smith Center stayed in Rodriguez’s thoughts, and when he saw a call-out for volunteers in 2011, he realized he could help out the Las Vegas valley’s new performing arts center in a different way – with his time and energy.
“I’m from Chicago, and during my grammar school years, our history teacher had tickets for the ballet at the Auditorium Theatre. So I went, and I was like, Wow, this is amazing, to see something like this. And after that, every time she had tickets, we would go,” Rodriguez recalls. “So when I saw The Smith Center needed volunteers to help, I thought back to when I was a kid and how much I liked going to the theater in Chicago. And I decided to see if I could help.”
For more than a decade, Rodriguez has been doing exactly that. He was here on opening night and has returned with regularity to work shows in all three of the nonprofit arts center’s venues – Reynolds Hall, Myron’s and Troesh Studio Theater.
Since retiring from full-time construction work in 2020 after a career that saw him work on projects ranging from the Bellagio to the Sultan of Brunei’s Las Vegas residence, Rodriguez has ramped up his volunteerism even more, often coming in four or five times a week to great guests, help them to their seats and generally offer assistance wherever needed.
And in 2023, his commitment was honored with the Larry LeBlanc Award for Service Excellence (named for the late Larry LeBlanc, an exemplary volunteer at The Smith Center) after a year that saw Rodriguez volunteer 634 hours of time.
“I like coming here and being around people, and I like helping people out,” Rodriguez says. “I try to look out for them and help make their experience good every time they come to The Smith Center.”
As a nonprofit, The Smith Center heavily relies on volunteer support, allowing us to present world-class shows, host special community events and provide arts experiences for tens of thousands of students each year. If you’re interested in volunteering and learning more about the benefits of doing so, visit thesmithcenter.com/about/volunteer.