April 2006 Board of Directors Meeting
Board Members Present:
Frank Buczolich (president)
Rance Fawbush (vice president)
Tim Johnson (secretary)
Janice Clevenger (treasurer)
Ben Aldred
Phil Addison
Susan Anderson
Roy Sillings
Russell McGee
Also in Attendance:
Sara Johnson (officer: webmaster)
Jennifer Liss
Minutes from March Meeting
Rance moved to approve, Ben seconded, ayes unanimous.
Treasurer’s report
Sleeping Beauty
$+ 204.00 Advance Ticket Sales
$- 11.29 Dry Cleaning
Summary:
$+ 2925.00 Total Income
$- 1130.59 Total Expenses
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$ 1794.41 Total Profit
Directors’ Symposium XI
$- 85.00 Royalties for Duck Variations
Expenses
$- 160.00 storage
Final balance $+ 3541.71
Ben moved to approve, Tim seconded, ayes unanimous.
Old/Current Business
Webmaster’s Report
In March we had 21,041 hits—about half again as much as last month. We are starting to get some automated bots coming through to index our pages, which inflates the hit count, but this is still very good.
BAAC Grant
Russell told us that we would have to have someone go to speak on our behalf for the grant if we get to the point of actually being reviewed. He has all the paperwork done up to this point. It turns out that we do have to get more specific with what our project is than just “our season”, so Russell chose to focus on the Lion shows because there are more of them and therefore more in in-kind donations and such. In addition to that, those shows are going out to Owen County, an underserved community, which will work in our favor. Russell added up $1,969 in in-kind that we could put toward the grant. If we get any money from this grant, we will need to keep detailed records of where the money is going. At this point, we’re just waiting to hear from the BAAC.
World Arts
World Arts has agreed to do programs and inserts (to be put in bills at the Irish Lion, etc.). We will now have to pay half the cost of the posters, but it was generally agreed that this was worth it.
Babbling Banshee
Roy said that the experience was amazing and he had a lot of fun. Russ said that the performance at O’Brien’s went over very well, to the point of actually selling out.
Director’s Symposium XI
It is estimated that income for the first two nights was about $300-$325, although this has not been turned in to Janice yet. Things are going well with the plays themselves; the problem is just getting people to come see the production. Press coverage has presented some challenges: Apparently, the H-T only gave the dates for the second weekend, and the Ellettsville Journal refused to publish anything about the show based on the subject matter of one of the plays. There have also been some problems with noise from outside the theater. Phil has found out that the story which inspired his play is actually true and plans to include that in the second weekend’s performances.Filling Allen’s Position
Our main roadblock to finding a Promotional Director right now is that most people want money, and we don’t have it. It was suggested that we pitch the position to the Kelley School of Business as an unpaid internship. We really need a job description. It was suggested that this should include graphic design skills, but those tasks could also be done on a commission basis.
Twelfth Night
Auditions are coming up shortly. Ben has heard a lot of interest and is expecting a good turnout if the weather cooperates. There are no pre-casts, so the field is wide open. There are four parts which are specifically cast as Marx brothers. Ben needs access to the storage area so that he can see what is available for costuming and props and such. Rance lent him a key.
Upcoming Lion Shows
Alice in Wonderland is the next Lion show, in July. Russ doesn’t know who is directing yet, but a couple of people have expressed an interest. It has been requested that we do Saturday and Sunday matinees, which is four extra performances. Oliver Crumb will be the next show after Alice, running in September.
Pericles
Janice thinks she will need 14 or 15 people in her cast. Auditions will probably be in early July, with August as a fallback to fill in blank spots in the cast if necessary. Janice is somewhat concerned about rehearsals for Hadrian overlapping with Pericles. Our birthday will occur during tech week for this show, so we may do something special on opening night.
Extremities
O’Brien’s turns out not to be a suitable venue for this show. Rhianna and co. are no longer trying to put this show up this spring. Rhino’s was suggested as a possible venue, as was the Old Theater Building stage.
Upcoming/New Business
Archive
Janice requested that people make an effort to get copies of press coverage to her for the archive.
New Publicity
The Indy Star will be listing us on their events calendar. They are also doing an article on dinner theater which they would like to include us in. Russ has also listed us with Bloomingtownie and the Visitors’ Center. Russ emphasized the need to have publicity items two weeks in advance for all shows in order to get it to the papers on time.
Mailing List Problems
AOL has started blocking our messages to their subscribers because too many AOL people have marked us as spam. This is confusing as we never put anyone on our list who hasn’t specifically asked to be there. Rance is investigating how we can get our mailing list whitelisted so that we don’t run into this again.
Meeting Adjourned
Phil moves to close the meeting, Tim seconds, ayes unanimous.