Maria Puig’s thirty years of ushering at Figueres a Escena

At 6.15 pm on a wet Thursday, Maria Puig is already inside Teatre El Jardí. She checks the seating chart, tightens the lanyard around her radio and walks the side aisles before the first audience members arrive. By curtain-up, this quiet routine has guided hundreds of performances and tens of thousands of visitors through the building.

Her title is volunteer usher, but her work extends well beyond opening doors. Maria answers questions, helps guests find their seats, assists visitors who need step-free access and alerts paid staff when a performance needs attention. She does it with the steady courtesy that makes a first visit feel easy and a return visit feel welcomed.

That welcome supports a busy cultural centre. Figueres a Escena presents theatre, music, dance, cinema, opera, circus and children’s and family programmes across Teatre El Jardí and Sala La Cate. Its foyer also fills with people arriving for workshops, talks, rehearsals and community activities, while ATEB’s theatre school gives young performers and adults a place to train.

This profile follows the volunteer who has ushered for thirty years and offers a rare view of cultural life built from repeated small acts of care. Maria has seen paper programmes give way to scanned tickets, children grow into regular audience members and a volunteer rota become an essential part of the organisation. Her story is about dependable service, local memory and the people who make a venue feel like part of their community.

The shift that begins before the audience

Maria’s first shift came in 1996, when she accompanied her niece to a children’s circus show and offered to help an usher find a seat. A paid team member showed her where to stand, when to open the doors and whom to call if a visitor became distressed. She returned the following week, then kept returning. “I liked being useful,” she says, “but I also liked the theatre, so I found a way to keep both.”

Her current preparation is more detailed. She confirms the running order, notes ticket-desk changes, checks companion seating, reviews the latecomer plan and learns which foyer arrangement suits the event. A concert may need a different welcome from an opera, a school presentation or a lively ATEB showcase. Maria also sees when a rehearsal has overrun and helps shift the timetable accordingly. The show begins with coordination backstage, but her contribution starts along the audience’s path.

Knowing where every seat leads

Maria remembers the floor plan of El Jardí as a network of decisions. Which aisle has the fewest steps? Where can a companion sit? Is there a clear route for a wheelchair user when the foyer is crowded? She can answer these questions quickly because she has seen enough arrivals to know that access is part of the visit, not an afterthought.

Her skill is social as much as spatial. Visitors may arrive speaking Catalan, Spanish, English or another language, and families often need a friendly face before the lights dim. Maria gives directions without making them feel like a problem and identifies regulars without assuming their needs. If a child is separated from an adult or something is lost, she keeps the situation calm and involves the appropriate staff member. Her notebook contains practical reminders, never private details.

Thirty years of changing audiences

Technology has altered the front of house since Maria began. Printed programmes became PDFs, ticket stubs became phone screens and a clipboard now sits beside a scanner. Audiences have changed too: people check their phones during intervals, arrive later and expect digital information without reading every sign. Maria adapts without losing the human cues that a screen cannot supply, such as noticing that a visitor looks confused before asking for help.

Affordability matters to younger audiences, and Figueres a Escena’s discounted under-30 tickets make a live performance easier to consider. The same pressure is familiar in Australia, where theatre-goers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide often combine a matinee with a coffee, travel by train, tram or bus, and check seating details in a venue app before leaving home. Local markets mix commercial seasons with independent fringe festivals, bundled tickets, memberships and school-holiday deals, so volunteers can explain when a cheaper option is available.

A life measured beyond the stage

Away from the auditorium, Maria cycles through the outskirts of Figueres, helps care for family and spends clear mornings on the water. Freshwater fishing gives her another way to observe conditions that change by the hour. She notices wind, light, depth and the small movements that reveal where fish are feeding, just as she reads a crowded foyer for hesitation or confusion.

Her tackle box is organised with the same precision as her shift notes. Before choosing lures for a still-water day, she reads practical field notes such as those on shallow-pond lure choices, then adapts the advice to the slower waters and different species she knows at home. Angling has taught her patience without turning service into performance; when conditions change, she adjusts quietly and keeps moving.

Service shaped by law and care

For Australian readers, the legal setting around volunteering is a useful comparison. State work health and safety laws generally place duties on unpaid helpers as well as paid staff. In New South Wales and Victoria, that can mean induction, defined roles, hazard checks, incident escalation and clear emergency procedures. Goodwill supports a volunteer team, but it does not replace the safety systems used by community theatres, school halls and small performance venues.

Requirements also vary for volunteers working with children. Queensland uses a Working with Children Check, while other states have equivalent screening processes, with the right check depending on the role and location. Privacy duties also govern photographs, incident notes and contact lists. Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and related state standards shape expectations for accessible services, including step-free routes and appropriate seating. Maria’s calm attention is practical, not decorative, and forms part of a safe, welcoming visit.

Preparing the next welcome

Maria has seen many volunteer ushers begin unsure and become indispensable. She now helps newcomers learn the building, rehearse common questions and recognise the point at which a question belongs with a paid colleague. The handover includes both the digital rota and the less visible knowledge of who can unlock a corridor, how a late arrival is handled and which door offers the calmest route when a foyer is full.

Her legacy is not a shelf of souvenirs. It is a shared method: notice early, assist without fuss and pass knowledge on. At ATEB, young people rehearsing for a public performance see that welcoming an audience is a skill worthy of study. At El Jardí and La Cate, experienced volunteers make sure that the next person inherits more than a list of duties. After three decades, Maria still checks the side aisles before curtain-up.

Support this work by booking a performance at Teatre El Jardí or Sala La Cate, joining the ushering rota or bringing someone new to a show. For under-30s, check the current ticket concessions; for families and students, look for the next ATEB presentation or workshop. Each visit strengthens the community around the organisation and gives its volunteer team another evening of steady service.

If you would like to welcome audiences yourself, contact Figueres a Escena for volunteer training dates, shift information and accessibility requirements. A good welcome begins with preparation, and Maria Puig has had three decades to learn how much that small role can mean.