Category: Team Meetings

Committee and board related items

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes: August 2014

Updated on

SMCT Meeting Minutes 23 August 2014

Members Present (Voting Members are in bold): Dennis Chretien, Leslie Carter, Andy Affleck, Artie Robillard, Laura Giorgianni, Bob Hollis, Heather Christie, Liz Dubois, Eric Dubois, Kaila Rubin, Maia Grandy, Gabrielle Dworkin, Tim Hillman, Emily Chretien

Minutes accepted (moved by Andy, seconded by Artie)

 

Corresponding Secretary (person who sends out letters for SMCT)

  • Motion to accept resignation – Leslie, Eric seconded
  • Tabling debate for whether we need position in order to draft blurbs and advertise
  • Leslie – letters members/personnel
  • Laura – letters donors
  • Heather – letters to everyone else
  • Heather will figure out the blurb

Trinity Episcopal Church

  • Donations for Christmas bazaar
  • Have done tickets in the past
  • Request doesn’t give dates, but will hopefully be able to do Christmas Story (unless it’s too close)
  • Dennis will pass info to David and CC to Carol Mauro and maybe M’Lynn

Financial Report: Annie

  • Show did very well – yay!
  • Some families donated large sums for Annie (thank you!)
  • Very positive reviews for summer production and experience this year
  • Call time of 1 hour makes box office set-up very difficult – need more time!
    • Cast only really needs an hour, but administrative stuff probably needs more – hour and a half? 15 minutes?
    • Artie will look to make sure this is all set for Our Town

Annie Jr.

  • Best Practices/Lessons Learned
    • David on box office worked really well – yay David!
    • Tech issues with lights getting knocked out – Dennis said we usually set benches across the front of the tech booth, but we gave those up for extra seats – someone walking past snagged a wire and it pulled out – happened twice, so we can’t really set it up that way again
    • Our Town – physical controller will be on stage with musician, so no worry about catching wires
  • Tech guidelines – if people want to be helpful, they NEED to talk to tech first instead of just helping
    • Don’t take anything from Tech booth without checking
    • Issue of taping doors – MUST use gaffer tape (expensive, but doesn’t leave gunk)
      • Whoever gets there on Friday to set up chairs, tape doors first thing with correct tape
    • Need to introduce tech director better
    • Doors, staging, etc are a part of Tech
    • Need to be better about communication on this front
    • Lock up the ducktape? Someone acts as tape-keeper? Small locked box?
  • Tech connection guide!!!
    • Dennis created a guide to help people set up cables during a show
    • Can edit for each show so people know how to hook it up
    • Can’t make downloadable template, because it’s Pages, but Dennis will look to see if an online template option is possible
    • Andy will add description of how to level-set mics before the show
  • Issues of language and disrespect
    • Maybe talk to everyone about being respectful around children at the beginning of a show
    • Make a handbook from the organization? Include in the guidelines we hand out for summer theatre?
    • Put contact info in that book
    • Kids and adults need to sign a behavior contract – no exceptions
    • 3-Strike system for everyone in the play – most will never need it, but it’d be good to have
    • Need to have consequences
      • There was concern about dropping people right before a show, but it was agreed that we can actually do that and are not afraid to have people replace them, even if they read from a script. Does it hurt the show? Yes, but that’s still the best show the cast can create on that day, even if that means the lead is someone who got the part three hours ago
      • Work in understudies or even have someone read book
      • Need revised code for Xmas story – Eric and Heather will get it from the Assets and fix up
      • Need consistency
      • We also recognize it’s difficult for teens to direct teens due to similarities in age
      • Maybe have all directors stay after rehearsal or find a way to meet to make sure they are all on the same page with behavior issues – a cast member may be breaking a rule for the fifth time, but if that’s the first time the director has seen it, they aren’t going to punish the cast member.
  • Guests of cast members CANNOT be backstage – MUST be involved if you want to be back there, and your involvement MUST be approved by the head director
    • Need a reminder about all this around Tech Week
    • Even veteran SMCT members should not be backstage unless they are involved due to lack of space and increased chaos
  • Strike and storage – strike went well – need to put up racks and shelving to organize the costumes!
  • We need supervision backstage for ALL shows
  • SMCT children’s theatre can very easily do adult-lead shows in children’s theatre – Don’t forget this!!! J
  • Doing JR version was a good decision: gave more time to focus on scenes, even if we lost parts of the story
  • 3 rehearsals/week is necessary for musicals, but also difficult

Building

  • New design gives us the space we really wanted
  • Works best for tech
  • 15,500 sq feet
  • They have the drawing; we’re asking them to build the walls around the space, soundproof the theatre, and fix the bathroom
  • Event layout (Bob)
    • Cabaret would be scripted and paced more as a show than Follies
    • RI Idol instead of Foster Idol – might be instead or in addition to (want to do both, but we don’t really make any money with Foster Idol)
    • Troupes are any group that wants to put a show together on their own – it would be on them to figure out the production, tech, costumes, etc
    • Hopefully this would get more volunteers, and having our own space would eliminate a lot of the most taxing things for those who currently work so hard: set-up and breakdown, etc (THANK YOU to everyone who helps with all this!)
    • SMCT optional contributions – $5/month
    • Grants estimate is conservative
    • We could rent out for concerts or other theatres or dance recitals, etc
    • All of this seems reachable
    • Can apply for an alcohol license, but increases liability
    • Ask about using the outside wall space to advertise the theatre (mural, etc)
    • Lessons are not budgeted in current layout – we could, just need to coordinate and plan
  • Tim will look into seating prices
  • Building the rake – will cost a fair amount
  • Emergency exits – doors out to Job Lot down front? Need to make sure we have enough of these
  • Building committee will figure out numbers and let us know
  • Tim can help with the grid
  • Need to electrify that area – will cost more
  • Probably will need to hire a janitor part-time
  • Also need to take snow removal into account
  • What is minimum staffing we need on a per-show basis for house, ushers, closing doors, etc? Building manager? Need to define that role…
  • Also house manager…
  • We could put Our Town right in the lobby, provided we have the building

Our Town

  • First almost run-through on Wednesday, rehearsals are Monday and Wednesday, now
  • Motif is doing a feature on Tim, should go right with the show
  • Will run full show from now to production
  • Jordan is coming in this week or next for music
  • Lighting – cue heavy (70-75)
  • Limited scenery, so money will go towards lighting equipment
    • Controlled by keyboard with music – has MIDI output – as music plays, color of stage floor will constantly be changing (this is SO COOL and everyone should come see it!)
    • Working to drop that in soon
  • By the week before opening, want a tech rehearsal and doing run-throughs, hang lighting, do cue-to-cue tech the Saturday before so that when we do dress rehearsal week, actors and tech are ready
  • Working heavily on building audience outside our current community
  • Goal is to get a show that gets people into our space and inspires them to work with us, particularly for kids in grades 9 – 12 – Tim is looking at shows that have parts for that age range as well
  • Tim’s really happy with how the show is going!
  • Leslie can help with concessions if needed, Heather will talk to Chris about producing help
  • Dennis is doing playbill, Alex is doing ad/money collection
    • Dennis will check with Laura on yearly ads
  • Tim will write a letter to English teachers at every high school in Rhode Island
  • Need Facebook event (Eric will do) – can go through RIPE and advertise through them, also American Association of Community Theatres, which gives cost breaks and probably discounts at a number of places

Christmas Story

  • September 3rd rehearsal starts
  • No producer yet – if interested, talk to Artie (email hidden; JavaScript is required)
  • Auditions this afternoon for Randy and possibly other roles
  • No artwork yet – sending a picture of the red rider for t-shirts if they can, then simple text
  • Playbill cover sent to Steve and Carol – the one from Dramatics with everything required per the license/agreement
    • Can probably work as a poster, too
  • Needed to advertise second auditions better – issue of lateness, so people may not know in time. Also issue of height description…

La Cage

  • Rights still processing

Sherlock Holmes

  • Working on that

Shakespeare

  • Ready to go, but no place to do it, so haven’t applied for rights
  • Should aim towards Coventry to coincide with building
  • We NEED to get more producers as an organization – part of it might be that no one knows what a producer does – Heather will figure out where that list is and get it out
  • Need producer for this show
  • Still unsure about dinner theatre or something else
  • Coventry Senior Center? Artie and Andy will figure this out

Improv troupe

  • Tim wants to work with them! Says we could do two shows a month with improv, after about two months of rehearsals

 

Next Meeting: 10:00am, 27 September 2014, Benjamin Eddy Building

Board Meeting Minutes: 19 July 2014

Updated on

19 July 2014 – The Chretien’s House

 

Members Present (voting members in bold): Heather Christie, Dennis Chretien, Emily Chretien, Bob Hollis, Laura Giorgianni, Kaila Rubin, Eric Dubois, Gabrielle Dworkin, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Andy Affleck, and Leslie Carter

 

Finances

  • Overall at $61,731 for all accounts
  • No other discussion

Creative Team

  • Annie
    • NEED a set person to help build the mansion
      • Using build-outs from Fantastiks with a regular build-out on top (~ 3ft high)
      • Need railing added around the top build-out for safety
      • Also need a drop over the front to look like a mansion
      • Also need some small stairs for dancing
      • 4 children dancing on the structure
    • NEED an antique wheelchair and a laundry cart
      • Find at a hotel? Hospital? Anyone know of anywhere?
      • Andy has an antiques store contact for the wheelchair, will check
      • Friend of Dennis works at linen place, might have a laundry cart – Dennis will check
    • Box Office
      • M’Lynn can help!
      • Leslie can, too!
      • A few parents have also volunteered, Laura will talk with M’Lynn
      • David Gresh is the main person for this, but he’s unavailable until the week before the show
      • Phone line for reservations is open, but not website
    • Website
      • Need to update so Annie info is on there
      • Andy or Eric will update?
      • T-shirt order goes in Thursday!
      • Issue with Bios passwords/accounts is now fixed – people should be able to access it!
  • Our Town (Chris reported)
    • Rehearsals once per week
    • Mostly working on character development and initial blocking
    • Lots of time spent on the craft of acting and how to approach it
    • Cast very pleased with that approach, as it gives time to ask questions
    • Once character development and initial blocking is over, Tim will run straight run-throughs over and over and over again until the show
      • New approach, we’ll see how it works
    • No real tech work yet, but has been discussed
      • Tim’s son will do music and can change lights using sound cues!
    • No producer – Chris might take it on, but he’s in the show and we want to avoid that. Possibly a group of people? Chris will write a description of what’s needed and Heather will put it in the August newsletter
    • Carol or Andy can do playbill?
  • Shakespeare Abridged
    • Andy is ready to perform, just needs a venue and tech specifications
    • No current dinner theatre scheduled – do Shakespeare again?
    • All actors on board
    • Cranston performance?
    • Once we know the venue, we can figure out tech, but we can’t organize tech until we have a venue
      • Steve can’t – not available March – June of 2015
      • Tim might be able to help…
    • Already have costumes, sets, props, etc. Might improve some, but don’t need to
    • Cast is largely the same – adding Zach Gibb – if anyone drops, the rest will pick up the lines rather than adding someone new
    • Rights are cheap and depend on attendance, cast is happy to do more shows
    • Venue will also define whether it’s a normal show or a dinner theatre
    • If we end up in Coventry for a building, we can use this to begin building a reputation/following there
    • Also a portable show, so could perform multiple places
    • For smaller shows, we can perform in Simmons Crossing (once it’s finished) or maybe the North Scituate gazebo, just not in March
  • Workshops
    • Will help to train people
    • NEED good publication of these well in advance
      • Sign-up sheets?
    • Maybe get teen troupe involved?
      • Promote community service aspect of this and everything SMCT does
      • Teens want to learn all this – perhaps they could help with Our Town?
    • Andy needs help putting it together
    • Also need to create binders
    • John Howe could maybe help produce Our Town? But he’s in the show…
    • Andy will map out what he needs and send it around so people can volunteer
    • For classes, we would need SPACE

 

Assistant Executive Director

  • Jayne’s resignation
    • Motion to approve made by Dennis
    • Seconded by Chris
    • Motion accepted
    • Should we sent a note?
  • Nomination for position
    • Kaila Rubin nominated
    • Motion to accept made by Bob
    • Seconded by Chris
    • Election approved by the board
  • Discussion of whether there was adequate notice to those in the organization
    • We’ve had the issue for several years where the positions up for election and what those positions entail are not well communicated to those not on the board. We need to fix this.
    • We also need to make the by-laws easily accessible online so that we are transparent about the workings of our organization.
    • Heather and Kaila will organize and review the positions and descriptions so we can display them in a more prominent way.
    • Heather and Kaila will ask Jayne what’s already been done – Bob sent a bunch of stuff, if Jayne doesn’t have it, Bob will send again to Heather and Kaila
    • General note on communications that some people prefer links rather than attachments – perhaps we can include both in the future so people can choose?

 

Events

  • We need an Assistant Creative Director of Events! Heather will put it in the August newsletter, hopefully with an updated description.
  • Old Home Days
    • Schedule – we still need people to help man the booth and help with Idol. Laura will take the sign-up sheet to Annie rehearsals and possibly drop it at the Eddy building?
    • Simple decorations this year – sort of nostalgia theme – all of the t-shirts on a clothesline plus Creative Memories books
    • Emily Chretien is brainstorming games – prize is 2 free raffle tickets
    • Annie stuff – games, some kids will dress up and hand out flyers
      • Get a costume from a store instead of using our own to keep the ones for the show clean?
      • Will hand out ~100 cards for a photo with Annie after performance of their choice – Gabby will make the cards and give to Bob at Annie rehearsal
        • Include dates and times of shows
        • Photos are after the show, not before
        • Get email when they take the photo so we can send it immediately
        • Add emails to the database if given permission
        • Photos will be taken on DSLR and edited in Lightroom one the spot and emailed out – Andy and Heather will take care of this and figure out logistics
    • Need someone to collect emails from raffle drawing on Sunday to get to Leslie
    • Dennis will get sound gear for OHD
      • Kaila has 2 mic stands, Heather is asking Preston for one (?)
    • Need 1 judge for Friday (9 – 11pm) and 2 for Saturday (5 – 7pm) – Andy might be able to, need to be unbiased
    • Also need help passing out and counting ballots from unbiased people
    • One slot still open for someone to compete, preferably male, since most contestants are female right now.
    • Next year – have a video montage of clips?

 

Building:

  • Coventry Job Lot – ~1/2 mile from storage unit on Rt. 3
  • Job Lot is leasing out the middle chunk, seem very flexible with spacing, so long as we figure out the logistics and costs
  • Has columns ~8in square and ~40 ft apart, but uneven in areas (down to ~36ft)
  • Multiple board members have worked out different spacing that would work in the building
  • Need to consider soundproofing, since Tractor Supply store is open til 8pm (7pm on Sunday) and Job Lot is open until 9pm (8pm on Sundays)
  • Laura will ask how much Job Lot is willing to change the spacing and whether they will charge based on the space we use or if it’s just a flat rate
  • Will Job Lot need to store things in ‘our’ space?
  • If walls can move, that changes our potential layouts
  • Seems like Job Lot wants us to make a proposal
  • Has a sprinkler system for fire code, but bathrooms are not up to code – would need to fix
  • Has ~16 foot drop ceiling, but panels can be removed to hang lights, etc.
  • Would we want to have seats at different heights?

 

Tech

  • Will eventually need to consider moving lights to LED technology – ultimately cheaper, would allow for easier changes in color, and would last longer, but very expensive upfront cost

 

Membership

  • Leslie, Dennis, Audrey, and Heather will work on membership database to update, etc.
  • Need to update the checklist we use for membership and couple that with the email when entering in the database to make filtering more effective
  • Need audition sheets/checklists from Our Town and Christmas Story to add to database
  • Laura will give Leslie audition sheets and checklist info for all shows she has done

 

Grants

  • Bob has made a list of grants and their requirements/deadlines – current list includes Champlin Foundation, RIF, Scituate Community, CAST, and RISCA
  • Best bet is Champlin Foundation (March 1 – April 30th application period), since they give grants for real estate stuff

 

Storage Unit

  • We need to organize this, since it is very difficult to navigate
  • Dennis has a system for costume area – he, Chris, and possibly others will put this up in the next few days
  • Laura, Annie parents, and others will reorganize the costume section before Annie performances
  • We will organize everything else when Annie stuff goes back into storage

 

FileMaker and Web Access

  • New version of web access makes it easier to move around/access
  • Need to license concurrent logins – can only do 1 at a time so far
  • Costs $413 for a 5-pack of logins
  • Possibly decrease FileMaker Pro logins to increase ones in web access – would save money, too
  • Since we share this with the restaurant and they are purchasing a 5-pack, we could purchase a 5-pack and then both organizations would have 10 logins to play with
  • Need to configure the system so it logs out automatically

 

Next Board Meeting: 23 August 2014, 10:00 AM at the Benjamin Eddy Building in Foster, RI

Be a part of the SMCT Annual Celebration

Updated on

The SMCT Annual Celebration takes place on June 10, 2013 at the Captain Isaac Paine School. Please, make plans to join us for our Annual Celebration. We celebrate the community in Community Theatre by feasting, looking back on all the good, and looking forward to our bright future.

Bring a Dish to pass for the Pot Luck Supper,which will begin at 6:15.
Our business meeting – reviewing last year's budget and setting this year's, voting on the slate of Board Members for this year, officially ratifying the upcoming season, and voting on whatever other business comes up – will begin at 6:45.

Be prepared to share one thing that you like about the SMCT Community and bring a 15 second part of any play that we have done in the first 10 years of our existence. We will all try to guess the show, the character and the person who played it! Points will be given for each correct answer! And in usual Whose Line Is It Anyway philosophy: The points don't matter as we will all be winners!

Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend.

SMCT Board Meeting Minutes

Updated on

Jan. 19, 2013 – Eddy Building

Board Members Present: Bob Hollis, Liz & Eric Dubois, Laura Giorgianni, Chris Brostrup-Jensen, Andy Affleck, Kaila Rubin, Steve Carter,  Jake Farnum, Emily Chretien.

December 2012 minutes accepted as written.

Currently Board Meetings occur on the third Sat. of the month & it is proposed to change them to the 4th Sat. of each month starting with the March meeting. 

We would like to get sponsors for each Playbill & to provide T-shirts.  Is anyone able to coordinate this? 

Judy K. is doing QuickBooks for us, which will help with balancing our Year End Budget. 

Bob’s “Gain thru Loss” has brought in about $400 to our savings.  Last raffle raised about $248 (Wonderful Life).  FileMaker Pro cost us $840 for another 2 years.  Still working on a new server, but having DNS issues.  Per Dennis C. the Server is running but DNS not working correctly.  Working to resolve the issue so we don’t have to take down the current website.  

Cuckoo’s Nest was excellent but needed more people at each show (5 more at each show would have moved us out of the red).  Why after 10 years are we still not drawing a dedicated base?  Location (Foster vs. at school)?  Marginal success with Seasonal Playbill ads, but mostly with our own group (or about half & half).  NEED A SALES TEAM & SALES MANAGER!   Difficult because we don’t have a set season.  Could sell Season tickets.  Need BIG sponsors, like Cardi’s or CVS, etc.  Chris (bass guitarist) is a truck driver & plans to talk to some of the people he’s involved with. 

Invite reporters earlier – Motif wants to come by March.  Need a Special Interest Reporter to write our own stories & submit them ready to print.  Could we get someone like Kim Fusco or another writer to do this?  Kristin Russo is teaching full-time now.  Invite Groups to come.  Snail mail to targeted sources (like Music Stores for JCSS).  Community Calendars.  Libraries.   Internal (email) appeal to our former cast members & ask them to bring a friend. 

Shakespeare going well.  Wants to do a performance for the Boy Scouts in Cranston, but are there licensing issues?  Rehearsal diary is available on Facebook.  Tyler V’s last show with SMCT before he goes off to college.   Carol will check the barn for props.  An email will go out asking for help to everyone.  If we sell out can we add additional shows?  Same problem with licensing requirements.  Need written permission.  Steve C. can get light trees.  We need to move the lights from school & bring light board, dimmer packs, cables & the lights to set up for the show.  Dennis, Eric & Bob can help with this.  The show is on March 2 & 3.  Would like to run a rehearsal for the show on Friday night, but can’t count on this unless we pay to reserve the space.  Must take everything out of the school on Friday as they are not open on Sat.  Will need all morning on Sat. to set up.  No build-outs.  Andy will send the script to Bob, Steve & Kaila.  Buy everything at BJ’s.     

Our JCSS is more about Judas than Jesus & all about the music.  Great voices for our main characters.  Good voices for everyone else.  Mix of professional musicians.  Score not fitted to instruments, but we have someone transposing the music.  Still no Musical Director.  4 people were lined up & either had job changes or moves that made them unavailable.  3 people involved with the show have taught voice & are helping.  Still hoping to hear from some of the cast/musicians who are checking with people they know.  Heather Christie is going to be our Stage Manager!  Costume Team = Liz, Lisa, Marty & Cindy.  Nathan is heading this.  Isabella is our Keyboard Player, but she needs a performance quality keyboard.  Can we borrow one?  Should SMCT buy one?  Can we rent one (estimated at $50/week).  Must have 88 weighted keys.  Music teacher recommended a Casio Previo 130 w/USB port ($600).  Need it now!  With a case it goes up to at least $800.  Steve just bought a Yamaha Grand for approx $600 for home use, but one for church was about $7000.  Electric piano vs. synthesizer (doesn’t usually have weighted keys).  Would Robert’s give us a deal or sponsor us?  One more thing that ends up in the barn.  How sensitive to temp & damp is it?   MMS; Purchase a Keyboard/synthesizer w/weighted keys & case, max. $1000.  Other Tech;  In ear monitor is better, but costs $600 each for a transmitter & receiver.  Have 5 electronic musicians.  How many channels needed?  Steve will look into rental.   Bob helped with ‘Rent’ in Tiverton & they had the band on stage.  We plan the same.  Need to know how much space on stage & what other needs they have.  Singers must be able to hear themselves.  Need 5 build-outs on one side of the stage, 3 on the other & at least 1 in the middle.  Need 2 more for Tech.  Look into buying staging.  Would need 8 x 16 (cut into 4×4 sections).  Want seating for audience of 225.    

Creative issues still being hashed out.  Currently we have Shakespeare (Andy A.), JCSS (Bob H. & Nathan D.) & Jungle Book (Emily Chretien, Laura G. will produce, Liz D. is Mentor), but the Fall of 2013 isn’t set.  Maybe The Crucible (Chris B-J) or Rumors (Bob H.), & then the Holiday show, maybe Christmas Story (Artie or other director?) or The Man Who Came to Dinner or Christmas Carol or a Get Merry…?  Spring 2014: Maybe, Finnegan’s Farewell, an Irish Themed Dinner in March, plus Chicago or Three Musketeers?  Current goal for Fall 2013 is Crucible & XMAS Story, & for Spring 2014 is Chicago (Heather Christie, if she isn’t attending Brown by then).     “Annie” with Jake Farnum directing is a possibility for the Summer 2014 Children’s Theater.  Jake F. wants Annie to be an adult play, not “Annie, Jr.”, a children’s version.  Show requires a lot of children & it’s harder for them to commit to rehearsals during the school year.  It is a XMAS themed show & would be good for a Fall/Holiday slot, but we do our Summer shows to give talented kids a chance to play major roles.  Annie is a good show for them to get that experience.  Many new kids start in the summers & we do have quite a few turning 16 soon (summer shows are for children age 6-16).  Our 16-18 year olds often get their 1st directing experience during summer shows.  2014 will be Jake’s Senior year of High School.  Possible alternative is Doctor Doolittle (musical).

Improv – Meryn is holding off until after Shakespeare.  Jake will check with her. 

Combat Workshop went well.  4-5 people attended & Frank said it was enjoyable.    

Need to start assigning User Names for BIOS based on real names as people forget which email they used for us to send password resets.  Dennis wants to tighten security/control for productions.  Also, need a way to reduce the list of shows some people have been in & just have them pick top 3 (or some number) of parts for Playbill.   

Need to have a secretary/clerk on the audition panel, just to collect & hand out the audition sheets & track the numbers, etc.  For musical auditions, someone should run sound.

Youth Group hasn’t met in a while. 

Laura G. is awaiting further valuation of Tech items before any progress can be made on Insurance.

Life Cycle of the Show meeting scheduled for 2/1 @ 7:30 PM at the Dubois house.  Goals; define roles, ID tasks involved.  Directed.  Produced.  Technical. 

Follies auditions in March & performance in May.

 

NEXT MEETING – Feb. 16, 2013 @ the Eddy Building (10 AM).   

Lifecycle of a Show meeting (part 2)

Updated on

In this meeting, we will identify everything that needs to be done in order to put on a show, schedule those tasks and assign them to make sure they get done on time. The goal is to make the process smoother, spread the workload, and ease tension.

Please download and review the draft that resulted from the first meeting on the subject. This second meeting will focus on defining the roles of everyone involved in a production so everyone knows who is responsible for what aspect of each production, volunteers know what is expected of them, and no one is overburdened.

The meeting will take place at the Dubois household on Friday, February 1, 2013 @ 7:30pm. The meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday March 7 @ 7pm, at the Captain Isaac Paine School. Everyone is welcome. RSVP or contact email hidden; JavaScript is required with any questions.

SMCT Minutes 5 14 2012

Updated on

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.