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by Ellen Shubart, Class of 2006

Coming to CAC with a Theatre Management background might not be the way most staff get to 111 E. Wacker Drive, but Madeline Sneed came down that path. And she sees a number of parallels between her training and her job today – “there are lots more performances here,” she jokes.

Sneed, 26, is an Ohio native hailing from Oregon, Ohio, near Toledo. She began her training at Olivet Nazarene University  as a marketing major but transferred to Kent State University, where she studied theater. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Management, she played that role at the Porthouse Theatre in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

Madeline worked herself up the ladder at Porthouse from Company Manager to Stage Manager to Assistant Managing Director. Hired at CAC just as the Center was reopening after COVID, she advanced by starting out as a Ticketing Shift Lead, then Box Office Manager to Manager of Tour Operations and with her recent promotion, Director of Tour Operations.

Sneed grew up with many performers and performances. Her father was the Executive and Music Pastor at Hope Community Church, a Church of the Nazarene. He left the church and now teaches choir and drama in the local Oregon High School. Her sister and brother also had interests in the theater, and her brother is now a lighting designer at Chicago’s Fox 32. Her sister became a speech pathologist but is currently teaching English in Korea. 

Sneed’s job today includes scheduling, data collection, and analysis, and she says her biggest challenge is the ticketing technology. Despite using Tessitura, a ticketing and membership data system designed for theaters, Sneed makes all of her reports manually; the software for the ticketing system does not extract the data or collect all the data points CAC needs to track. CAC is looking for a more robust ticketing system that will extract relevant information: how many tickets were sold, what the weather was like that day, which ticket buyers were locals, which were tourists, and other data to be displayed on an easy-to-read dashboard.

Madeline is working with the Marketing Department to identify who takes CAC tours and to define strategies that will increase attendance now and in the future. She foresees a Campaign for Walking Tours in the works. But the new ticketing system will not arrive until fall of next year and will first be used for the build- out of the 2026-2027 schedule.

Sneed marvels at how much the position she holds has changed over the years. She sees better relationships between staff and docents, and she  particularly is pleased to have good relations with Manager of Volunteer Relations Jared Miller and his colleague Cole Christian.

“We are all trying to make things move more smoothly and be more open,” she says. “I always follow my father’s rules as a pastor: ‘Read the room, interact with people, meet people where they are.’ ” And to that she adds her own homily: “It doesn’t hurt to try anything.”

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