May 14, 2012
SMCT Board Meeting – Chretien’s Home
Mary Jo, Dennis, Emily & Michelle Chretien, Artie Robillard, Carol Mauro, Bob Hollis, Liz & Eric Dubois, Jake Wolf-Jensen, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Jayne Lear, Janice Dionne, Mel & Elijah Fontenault, Steve Carter, Laurie Murphy, Laura Giorgianni
Minutes from the April Meeting were read & accepted.
Creative Report:
Canterbury Tales Best Practices not done at the cast party. Plan is to send an email to all cast members. Would like to offer a reward to one randomly selected respondent who completes the survey. Hard to get people to respond & would like to generate more interest. Mostly get the same folks turning in answers. Broader cross section might provide more ideas. MMS. We will try offering something (a $25 gift card to be randomly drawn at the Annual meeting in June from those who complete the survey). May include a question about level of interest in learning to be a director, or tech support, etc.
Bob – Has a strong team of directors for Wonka (27 total?). May be able to fill up to 60 parts with about 30 speaking & some singers, etc. All shows are planned for the school, not at the Fairgrounds. Tickets should be $7 each with a family max. of $30.
Working on a letter to parents to introduce them to the expectations for themselves & their children during a summer play. It should be ready in time for Wonka. Intended to deal with everything from having parents of children under age 8 stay with them, dealing with costumes & makeup, & giving advance notice if a child can’t make a rehearsal or a performance date. Long discussion of “requiring” vs. “requesting” sales of Playbill ads or equal value in contributions from participants. Currently 1 page of ads costs about $60. Number of cast members could affect the amount each member would be asked to contribute. Could there be an incentive offered for most ads sold? Financial hardship? Who tracks this? Would we kick someone out for not making the required amount? Would we not allow them in another show? Decision reached to ‘request’ & explain the need to keep this experience available to the community & still pay for all the things required to run a program.
Auditions for three plays coming up at the end of May/beginning of June. To get it in the Foster Home Journal, Artie needs info by Friday (5/18). Artie wants to do a read-thru of ‘Wonderful Life’ in June.
Potential Dinner Theater for after ‘Wonderful Life’ & before ‘JCSS’? Suggestion made to do ‘The Complete Work of Shakespeare – Abridged’ (comedy), which has a small cast (3-6), low tech & almost no sets. Is Dinner Theater a show or a fundraiser? Generally ask a higher price for fundraisers, but only makes about $5/person. Would ‘Table Pricing’ make any more? Costs of the rights for something like Shakespeare, amounts allocated for food, etc. effects our share. Would we rather play to a full house at a lower price or fewer people & higher cost? Murder Mystery Theater tends to have a following… people will come just because they look for these. Other suggestions: Dessert Theater, Breakfast, Cabaret – ways to lower our costs. What info do we need to make a decision? Should we do a dinner theater this year? People who don’t sing might want a chance to perform since the spring performance is all music. Creative Team will take this & elaborate on time slots, nature of show, etc. Thinking of Jan/Feb at the Fire Station, 1 weekend, not Super Bowl Sunday (1st weekend in Feb 2013). Follies are the end of March.
Cuckoo’s Nest needs a crew still. Producer, Costumes, Stage Manager, etc. Dennis needs specific info for the phone message (from each Director of all shows).
Laura needs input from the Directors to come up with the budgets, still.
Watershed Project brought in about $800. Thanks to all who participated.
Preservation Society Cemetery Project is scheduled for Sept. 2012.
Monday, June 11th, 5-9 PM, Annual Celebration at the School, Pot Luck, Food starts at 6 PM, meeting starts at 7 PM. Elections of Board members scheduled. Bob isn’t sure when his three year term started. Would like members who are good at organizing & planning to think about this position for the future. Will need a Membership Director & Events (part of the Creative Team) Director this year, as Zach Farnum & Laurie Murphy are stepping down . Janice Dionne will work with Bob on Grant Writing. She will email Bob about the letter he needs to write for Fundraisers. Carol will get a packet of old playbills to Janice. Still need a Capital Campaign Director. Will need a vote on the change in By-Laws to state a quorum is achieved by having 1/2 + 1 of total number of eligible voters at a meeting. Need input person for Website & need to get Calendar managed. Discussion of creating ‘Swampy’ Awards where anyone who has been to 4 out of 5 SMCT performances could vote on who they think deserves in-house recognition from our shows each year. Entertainment at the annual meeting provided by Mel. Might be nice to have a slide show of performances from the past 10 years.
Tech Training – Lights workshop is scheduled for JUNE 14th at school. Lights are up. Need lighting board & snake or at least an XLR cable.
Life cycle of a show meeting scheduled for 5/25 @ 7:30 PM at the Dubois House. Andy, Jayne, Laura (Production expert).
Events meeting needed. Start working on Foster Old Home Days.
Email review meeting needed. Eric, Dennis, Kaila.
New Banner to be ordered – approx. $500.00
Dennis viewed building on Chopmist Hill & follow up is suggested. Committee invited to attend: Steve Carter, Carol Goulet, Liz & Eric Dubois, Bob Hollis, Artie Robillard, Kaila Rubin, Chris Brostrup-Jensen.