Hello Theatre Club Members,
I have been asked to write a monthly message. For those who know me well, you know that any opportunity I have to communicate is fine with me.
Our last meeting, due to St. Patrick’s Day did not have a great attendance, so this message might be longer. You’re all forgiven this time but I am hoping in the future we have much greater attendance. You will hear me say this a lot – THIS IS YOUR CLUB. I know the more you put into it, the more you’ll gain from it. I hate cliches but that’s one that applies.
Some of the following will be repetitious, but I want to catch up with those that missed. First, the cats out of the bag – GUYS AND DOLLS is our upcoming musical. I’m very excited about this. Auditions are coming up April 14th and 15th. This play has a big cast and many parts for men. So I’m hoping our male members come out in big numbers for this audition. Ladies and gentlemen, I want this to be the best musical ever. I would like as many members as possible to volunteer to help make it so. Plus, it’s not too early to focus on ticket sales. Start talking to friends and relatives now. Send them “save the dates”. Keep them focused. I promised the association 3 days of sell outs (95% or above). I will bust my buns to make that happen.
For those of you who haven’t heard – We hired a fantastic new director, Ben Lowey. He came highly recommended. He has worked at many community theatres in the area. He has many benefits like access to sets, props, costumes, ticket sales and more. He is as excited to work with us as we are to have him. He is a great addition to our team.
We have also found Chip Hanson to take over for Jerry as head set builder. We also have another individual who is joining to help Chip. So our set building should now have a lot more volunteers. Thank goodness Jerry will still be supervising the job.
Next, we, unfortunately are losing the services of our wonderful make up artist, Danette who, sadly, is moving away. We will miss her pleasant demeanor and fantastic ability. Not to fret too much as we have Nancy, J.J., and Francine who are here to fill in nicely. Again, we want this play to be the best we’ve ever done. Let’s get really psyched up.
In the future, my plan is to find ways for us to have fund raisers. I’m focused on a few things but raising money has to be top on my list. The more money the better productions. Actually the better everything.
I want to emphasize (which I will do very often) that this club only survives and is successful if members contribute. I’d truly like everyone to find something to do to help. There are plenty of committees to work on.
At the end of the general meeting a handout was given. If you weren’t there and didn’t get one, there are still many available. This handout was to get information about each member and to see if you had any good suggestions. I’d appreciate it if everyone fills this out.
My goal, for those who missed it, is for us to at least triple our advertising revenue. In order to do that I’d like each member to sell at least one business card ad for $25. That should be so easy. They don’t have to be from businesses. Your friends and family can put in funny little ads.
Things like “Break a leg Kim” or like my kid would do “Don’t mess up, Dad!”, or “Best wishes from the Smith family” if every member (I figure 60) sells 1 business sized ad that’s $1,500 in the pot for us. (Just think if each member sold 2 or 3). If we add to that the other ads there’s no reason we can’t make $2,500 in ad sales. That’s a lofty but doable goal.
We have lots of work ahead of us, but it’s fun work. The end results are we get to entertain our community while soothing our theatric souls.
Once again I say, I love this club, the members in it, and I love the vision of the future where we have tons of money in our kitty so we can provide the most professional entertainment.
My best to you all,
Neal
P.S. in the future I will try to make these shorter.