The Savoy 16 is the most popular local movie theater for Uni students to work at. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

Lor Sligar takes a concession order from a Savoy 16 customer. Theater workers get to do a variety of tasks in the course of a typical shift. Gargoyle photo by David Porreca (click to enlarge)

WHEN THE CURTAIN falls at the end of each school day, it is only the beginning for those of us who pursue sports, music lessons, and other extracurricular activities.

Some hardy souls even find time to hold down real part-time jobs that make real money. Movie theaters seem to be the promised land for high schoolers who might want a little "cool job" status to go along with their spending money.

Uni has a history of contributing to the cinema workforce. The Savoy 16 boasts the largest contingent of Uni student workers.

Five current students are working or have recently worked there, as well as numerous Uni graduates. The Beverly 18 is also part of the mix.

Seniors Lor Sligar, Lauren Piester, Rachel Hyman, Deborah Ladd, and James Smith make up our posse of Savoy 16 laborers. Sligar, Piester, Ladd, and Hyman recently shared some of the battle stories from their time in the buttery trenches of local moviehouses.

Attractions of the job

Many of the seniors gravitated toward the bright lights of the theater for similar reasons. The predominantly teenage make-up of their co-workers and customers appealed to them.

They also got the chance to interact with high school students who were outside of their Uni comfort zone.

"The best part is getting to know people outside of Uni," stated Ladd, who has worked at Savoy since October. "Since the theater employs mostly teenagers, it's really easy to make lots of friends."

Piester likes the constantly changing nature of the movie theater business. Rotating among duties that include ticket selling, ticket tearing, concessions, and ushering, she appreciates the variety that the job offers.

While the fundamental requirements associated with each of these theater tasks remain the same, the constant influx of new movies and the changing dynamic of the crowds that attend them inject a fresh energy into each shift.

Fringe benefits

Employees at the Savoy 16 are granted one free movie ticket per week, as well as one free drink and a free popcorn. They are also allowed to catch snippets of whatever movies are showing during their breaks.

Among our industrious troop of theater workers, popcorn is the object of both love and scorn. Hyman, who, like Piester, focused on the theater as strictly a summer job, offered this assessment:

"I never really got too sick of the popcorn there, but stay away from the buttery topping. I looked at the nutrition facts once out of curiosity, and in one tablespoon-sized serving there was like 26 grams or so of saturated fat."

What are the ingredients of this buttery topping?

"I don't actually know what the butter is made of," answered Piester, "but I'm not sure I want to. It's still delicious. Except for when you end up with it all over your hands and clothes, and sometimes even your face, at the end of your shift."

Generally, the student workers find time to watch more first-run movies because of their affiliation with the theater.

Sligar, our resident queen of theater-job longevity, started at the Savoy 16 way back in May 2007. She continues to pull weekend hours and finds it a challenge to take advantage of her free movie perk.

"I'm usually working during the hours I would want to see a movie, so I haven't seen one in ages," she explained.

Making time — and expecting the unexpected

The obvious challenge for any student-employee is time management. How do our theater insiders pull it off?

"I work weekends, and it's not too bad," Sligar said. "My social life has suffered slightly, but I make amazing money, so it's a fair trade."

Typically a high school student can expect to earn minimum wage minus tax, according to Sligar.

"My paychecks when I work one shift a week range from $40 to $70," she said. "But I make
the $7.75 over-18 minimum wage, and there's another for under 18. And working one shift a week is rare; usually during the school year I'll work two or three."

Working more than a couple days per week during the school year is difficult, and even one or two shifts can be a challenge when juggling school, extracurriculars, and community volunteering.

"You pretty much have to work on weekends, and with eight-hour shifts it doesn't leave you much free time to study," Hyman noted.

She suggested taking on the job during summer months, when the issue of navigating homework around work shifts is not a factor. In fact, Hyman decided to take a break during the school year, when weekend hours were becoming too much of a burden.

If she returns, she'll be ready for all aspects of her job, which include dealing with the unexpected. When you work in a theater, you never know what you're going to see, both on the screen and off.

"The best thing about the job was getting to meet people my age outside of Uni and all the crazy movie theater stories I got to hear and see," Hyman said. "For example, once I walked into a theater playing 'Space Chimps,' and there were two teenagers engaged in, uh, amorous activities."

While you can't count on that kind of excitement every shift, our panel of experts portray a movie theater as an excellent place to sample the working world.

So, the next time you're at the theater deciding whether you want gummi bears or Raisinettes, look up and give a quick thought to that comrade on the other side of the counter. It might be someone you know.

Four steps toward movie (job) stardom

Interested in joining the movie theater workforce? Here are a few tips gleaned from Uni veterans.

• Ask for/pick up an application at the movie theater. Don't do this on the opening night of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," "Transformers 2," etc.

• Turn in the application and set up an interview with one of the managers.

• Return soon after for a casual interview in the theater lobby. Expound on your "people" skills. Tell them how much you love movies. Show them how flexible your schedule is.

• You will probably find out if you get the job immediately after your interview!