Volunteers - the backbone of the Historic Ironwood Theatre
Make new friends... Learn new skills... Contribute to the well-being of your community...
Be part of something special... Have fun... Volunteer!
The Ironwood Theatre simply would not exist, but for the herculean efforts of a committed corps of truly remarkable people - our volunteers. Box office staff, poster distributors, sound and lighting techs, building and maintenance crews, janitors, concession and bar workers, ticket sellers and ushers - all volunteer their time because of a shared belief in what we do here at HIT. Our most frequent need for volunteers occurs on the day of a show, but if popping popcorn or monitoring volume levels or scanning tickets is not your thing, you might consider joining one of our committees.
Long before we light the Marquee to indicate it is a show night, our committees are hard at work, doing all the background work necessary to bring an act to our stage, among them:
- Programming - Line up the entertainment
- Marketing - Let people know about coming events
- Grants - Research, prepare, and report on grants
- Finance - Budget, monitor, and report expenditures
- Fund Development - Ensure we have the money we need
- Facility Maintenance - Take care of plant and building
- Tech - Maintain projection, audio & lighting equipment - run shows
- 100th Anniversary Committee - Help plan a host of celebratory events and projects to commemorate our 100th year in 2028
We like to offer all our volunteers a meaningful experience, so we provide training, orientation, supervision and ongoing support. In return, we ask for an honest commitment of time and a willingness to abide by established operational protocols.
To help us match you with the right volunteer opportunity please click the button below to fill in and submit the Volunteer Application/Information form.
Volunteer Opportunities
With the significant increase in the number of shows over the past year or so, including live shows and movies, we are in need of additional office help, as show techs. Full training provided. As of March 2026, we are particularly keen to recruit a couple more volunteers to join our tech team - running sound, lights and movies and shows. It's really a lot of fun - you get to meet some cool artists and work with a great team, committed to professionalism and high production values. Performers routinely compliment us on the quality of our equipment and volunteers, often commenting that we do a better job than in most of the bigger venues they play. We are also looking to fill the following volunteer vacancies.
Greet visitors; answer phones; sell tickets; record donations; provide administrative support to Administration Manager and Theatre Manager. Office is currently open Monday, Thursday & Friday from noon to 4:00 pm. We'd love to recruit enough office volunteers to allow us to open five days per week.
Skills required: bright smile, helpful attitude, basic to intermediate computer knowledge. You don't have to be a computer nerd, but a familiarity with basic computer operations will help. Training and ongoing support provided.
There are various ways of helping us promote the theatre and our shows. Update website, help with monthly poster distribution, assist with social media posts. We recently established a program marketing team but would like to add another member or two. If you would like to learn more about these opportuniies, please give us call!
We have a running list of projects that require action, and it changes as tasks are completed. Those tasks vary, but might include:
- Minor plumbing and electrical repairs
- Simple construction projects
- Set-building and painting
- Using hydraulic pit piano lift, relocating the stage grand piano from it's storage space under the stage up onto the stage before a show and returning it afterwards
- Setting up risers before concerts and dismantling and stowing them after shows
- Occasionally playing "rigger" - raising and lowering sets and drapes during performances
Assist performers with equipment load-in and load-out, set lights, set up microphones and other sound equipment, operate sound and lighting equipment during shows. Operate projector and sound during movie presentations. Occasionally we have a need for a stage "rigger" - someone to raise and lower printed sets and drapes during shows. None of this is as scary as it sounds - full training is provided. We typically present three - four shows per month and our intent is to have enough tech volunteers available so that no one would have to do more than one show a month. Typical time requirement is 3pm - 10 pm on the day of show - usually Saturday - and occasional equipment maintenance and organization on non-show days. Movies are typically screened on first Fridays and an occasional mid-week screening. Tech orientation and training sessions are offered on a regular basis - a great chance to come along and find out if projector, sound and lights operation is for you.
Our program team meets regularly to plan forthcoming shows. The team deals with most aspects of putting on a show - preparing show budgets and contracts, show marketing, logistics, and more. If you'd like to be part of a dynamic group, working collaboratively to put a diverse program of events together, we'd love to hear from you.
Every now and again we gather a group of people together to knock off a bunch of tasks from our to-do list. OUR NEXT WORKING BEE WILL BE ANNOUNCED SOON. We will be hauling redundant materials from the basement to take to the dump; cleaning light fixtures; and continuing our re-organization of basement storage areas. SNACKS, REFRESHMENTS, AND GOOD COMPANY PROVIDED. YOU PROVIDE THE ELBOW GREASE.
With the recent increase in scheduled shows we are in need of a few more show helpers. Ticket sellers and scanners, popcorn and soda sales, bartenders, and ushers all make sure our guests have a great evening (or afternoon) at the theatre. Typically 5:30-8:30p on show nights - most often Saturdays but occasionally Friday evening and Sunday afternoons.
Research, identify funding sources, write grants & prepare reports. If you like to write, or do research on the internet, we'd love for you to join our grant team. It is a very supportive group who work really well together. The team meets twice a month via Zoom, so you can do it from home. If you would like to sit in on a meeting or two, just to see if it is the sort of group you'd like to join, we welcome your interest.
help plan a host of celebratory events and projects to commemorate our 100th in 2028. Throwback and silent movies, document preservation, special events, merchandise, a documentary, and more - all are on the table. Bring your ideas and your energy!
To learn more...
For more information about the Ironwood Theatre’s Volunteer program, please call the Theatre office, or send an email to our volunteer coordinator at: volunteer@ironwoodtheatre.net