September 2006 Board of Directors Meeting
Board Members Present:
Frank Buczolich (President)
Rance Fawbush (Vice President)
Tim Johnson (Secretary)
Janice Clevenger (Treasurer)
Roy Sillings
Phillip Addison
Ben Aldred
Russell McGee
Also in Attendance:
Sara Johnson (Webmaster)
Jennifer Liss
Josh Mock
Erin Stevensen
Richard Perez
Minutes from August Meeting
Phil moved to approve, Janice seconded, ayes unanimous.
Treasurer’s report
Pericles
$- 51.33 “liquid relief” (ice water and cooler)
$- 14.60 Jo-Ann Fabrics (costumes)
$- 97.80 Costume Delights (costumes)
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$- 163.73 Total to date
Expenses
$- 160.00 storage
Final balance $+ 1930.60
Tim moved to approve, Ben seconded, ayes unanimous.
Webmaster’s Report
The Web site is believed to have had 13,799 hits, not as many as last month but still more than this time last year and doing pretty well. The phrase “believed to have had” is used here due to the fact that we have new tracking software whose reports the Webmaster is still getting used to reading.
Old/Current Business
Grant
There will be an initial payout of the grant on September 19, which Frank and Rance will be accepting on behalf of MCCT. The final 10% of the grant will be withheld until everything is done and confirmed. We will need to write letters to our state representatives thanking them for supporting the arts.
Fourth Street Festival
We got two full pages of sign-ups for e-mail lists. A small snippet of Pericles was performed, but Janice says it may have been more trouble than it was worth because it didn’t reach a very large audience. (It was pointed out that the band tuning up behind the stage didn’t help either.) The posters from Alice, Oliver, and 12th Night were posted and got a lot of attention from passerby.Alice in Wonderland
Begging money was turned in to Janice.
Oliver Crumb
Oliver is in tech week. They were able to record live piano for the music rather than just having canned music. Tech has been done at the Lion and lights and sound are ready to go. Platforms are set up so that the stage will be raised. Programs will be done by Friday as well as inserts. Publicity is pretty much done. There will be 9 shows total, of which 3 are in Spencer.
Pericles
Pericles opens ten days from the Board meeting. Janice says she has a feeling it will come out all right and she likes the posters. There are 14 people in the cast, who will be helping out with set moving as well. Costumes are going well. One of the swords has disappeared; Rance is going to dig out one of the ones he has at home and grind down the rust on it so that it can be used. There are some storage issues with large set pieces as well. There are some concerns about rain, and whether lights will be needed. There has not been a full run-through yet, but Janice thinks the show will run about 2 hours.
Dracula
Russ has cut Bram Stoker’s original script to two hours. WFIU is interested, with NPR, in doing a story about it if we do use the original script. (The possibility of recording and broadcasting a performance was also brought up.) The Spencer performance will be at the Hilltop, not at the library, on the 30th. The Hilltop is planning on doing this as a masquerade event. The productions at the Lion will probably be the 23rd, 24th, 31st, and November 6 and 7, but Russ needs to confirm that. Rich from the BPP was present to discuss a potential co-production with the BPP. Concerns were expressed about whether this would violate the terms of our BAAC grant. This question can be resolved by talking to Nancy at the BAAC. It was suggested that if we do not wind up doing a coproduction for this show, we might look into that possibility in the future. Russ has expressed that if he cannot get the extra support to give the original script the attention it deserves, he will probably either use the 1924 script or do a new adaptation.
New Business
MCCT Mail
The Civic Theater has gotten some mail which might be of interest, including some information about lighting equipment, and an offer for a free listing in the YellowBook USA Community Pages. This includes a 40 word description, a Web site listing, and a color photo. The application wants to know if the site is handicapped accessible. This caused some confusion as it appeared to be referring to the Web site and no one was quite sure what that meant. Rance agreed to pursue this as long as it was free.
Proposed Show
Ben has written a play which he is proposing for the March 2007 of the dinner theater series. It’s 20 scenes, set in Bloomington, following a chain of conversations about the concept of love. (So Scene 1 is between characters A and B, Scene 2 between B and C, Scene 3 between C and D, and so on in a large circle until eventually you get back around to the first two again.) Ben sees this being done with 6-7 actors who can fill multiple roles. This is not an adult-content show in the sense of being risqué or inappropriate for viewing by children, but would likely not appeal to young children simply because it involves concepts that they won’t understand or be interested in.
Possible New Venue
At Fourth Street Festival, we were able to talk to the head of the Windfall dance studio. They would like to know whether we might be interested in performing in their new space, which seats about 100 people. Details are unknown. There is also a private school in Scottsburg at which we would be welcome. This is quite a distance, but Scott County is certainly an underserved area, and it may be a possibility to consider for future shows.
Computers
Four computers have been donated to the Civic Theater, along with several related items (printers, a scanner, etc.). They are going to be taken to Tim, who will examine them and do any reformatting, installing, etc. necessary. After we know what we have, we can decide what to do with it.
Meeting Adjourned
Rance moves to close the meeting, Phil seconds, ayes unanimous.