Minutes 13th December 2010

Monday 13 December 2010

In attendance: J. May, D. Keenan, S. MacDonald, A. Rutherford, L. Taylor, T. Pennock, S. Gregson, C. Felstead

Apologies: D. Hahn, H. Allan, L. Monkman, E. Burckhardt, F. Bird, T. Eaton

Agenda:
1. La Ronde Postmortem/Reflection
2. QMU Meeting
3. Social
4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. New Works
6. Publicity Officer
7. Plans for Next Semester
8. Community Theatre
9. AOB
10. Christmas

1. La Ronde Postmortem/Reflection
Despite many problems along the way, J. May said he was very happy with how the show turned out. Publicity was felt to be a major problem with the show. John also felt that the relationship between the board and directors could be closer, saying that if he hadn't already known people on the board he would have felt very isolated. There were a lot of things that he was not aware he would have to sort out himself, for example getting a photographer. John suggested a weekly meeting between the board rep and the director would be beneficial.
C. Felstead suggested that for future shows there should be a "Plan B" for the set organised ahead of time. S. Gresgon asked if the set could have been constructed earlier. J. May said that the size of the set made this difficult as there was nowhere to store it. There was originally a plan to construct and store the set in the G12 but this fell through.
J. May felt there were problems with getting people to help, saying that many people would reply to emails saying they could but end up not coming. C. Felstead said that as a last resort the board should be available as backup. The role of assistant director was discussed, and was generally agreed to be a vital role. L. Taylor said that assistant directors often get jobs they may not have been expecting to do, and that the role needs to be better defined. The idea of an Assistant Director Pack was proposed. L. Taylor will be writing this with C. Felstead over the holidays in time to be of use for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. C. Felstead said it was important to inform people how much they would have to do when helping in shows, although it was important not to put people off as not many people apply anyway. J. May suggested people propose themselves as Stage Manager, as dedication is important.
The sofa from the Salvation Army and the wood from the set will be returned later this week by J. May. S. Gregson stressed the importance of being careful and courteous when dealing with businesses, as they will have a longer memory than STaG will. C. Felstead asked if the set could have been dismantled during the run, but according to L. Taylor there was not enough time to deal with this while sorting out all the other stuff that was going wrong.
L. Taylor and S. Gregson stressed the importance of the board not taking criticism of how things were going by the board representative as criticism of the director specifically. S. Gregson asked about ways to encourage board involvement. The idea of assigning roles was generally agreed to not be realistic. Although people often don't have time there needs to be more encouragement of board members to help out more with miscellaneous jobs.
J. May said he found the Director's Pack very useful for initial preparation, but as the production went on the given schedule slipped considerably. The board was not made sufficiently aware of when things should happen. In future, members of the board involved in tech, publicity and finance need to be more proactive. More meetings with the director as a board were deemed to be a good thing. C. Felstead suggested giving out phone numbers of the whole board to the director in order to make contact easier.
The idea of feedback and passed on information was discussed. J. May felt that feedback from one mainstage to the next would be helpful, and that he would be willing to write this to be sent on to the next mainstage's director by the relevant board rep. S. Gregson felt that building on director's packs and starter packs was a lot better than passing on information verbally, as packs helped encourage building on previous information. This is particularly important this year as the board has changed dramatically, and there is a high number of people involved who were not previously. Although S. Gregson was quick to point out that the STaG ship hadn't sunk yet. An extended nautical metaphor was explored by the board.
C. Felstead suggested that more warm-ups would have been beneficial, citing feedback received from the cast. J. May said that the rehearsal schedule and the nature of the play - two actors at a time, with one leaving as another entered - made warmups difficult. S. Gregson said that the importance of warm-ups was not always made clear, and that the list of warmup games in the Director's Pack should be extended. T. Pennock briefly wondered to himself if anyone would actually read all of this, but decided to press on anyway.
J. May suggested a weekly meeting with the board rep would help directors be more aware and willing to discuss problems. C. Felstead said that not much was brought up with her by the cast until after the show. There was concern that the board rep could be seen as a criticising overseer, and that it was difficult for directors to bring up problems. J. May felt a weekly or fortnightly meeting would help with this too, as it would encourage a closer relationship and a better environment for bringing up problems. L. Taylor also suggested that the board rep could take on some stage management responsibilities.

2. QMU Meeting
S. Gregson, C. Felstead and T. Pennock had a meeting with the QMU last week about how La Ronde was handled. While the karaoke upstairs on the Sunday remains a mystery, the General Manager gave the impression that he wasn't happy with how the QM handled the event. The end result was a reduction in the cost of venue hire for this event from £1200 to £900, and also an extra night in future for free with full tech support.
Those present who had been involved with La Ronde on the night expressed concern over using the QM again this year, saying they had not felt welcome there and had had difficulties with the staff. There was concern that another night at the QM would just be the same thing again. It was generally agreed that STaG should not book other additional days around the free one. L. Taylor felt that it would be a lot of work for one night.
C. Felstead and S. Gresgon said that it was important to give the QM a second chance, and that it would be nice to give another opportunity for a play, especially considering that there have been fewer opportunities than in previous years due to the Studio no longer being available.
S. Gregson said it was important to get something in writing committing to technical capabilities. It was questioned how much information could be obtained from the QMU on this matter, and whether there should be a backup plan in case things go tits-up.
The idea of a one-day devised show was brought up, with perhaps a tech workshop or set-building going on at the same time. Booking the Food Factory on the same day would allow for lots of things to be happening at the same time, and would allow lots of people to get involved. A final decision is to be made later.

3. Social
Possibilities were explored for next month's STaG social. The possibility of another themed night was explored. L. Taylor proposed doing "like, a thing", such as going to the Art School or similar. The idea of a subcrawl like last year's was proposed for the 15th January, and this was generally agreed to be a good idea.

4. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
L. Taylor has been made board rep. The board rep pack has been sent to her and she has been in contact with the director. Auditions need to be organised soon, and scheduled for a time that doesn't clash with the subcrawl. From the experiences of auditioning for La Ronde, it was recommended that the auditions be booked for two rooms in the QMU, as the STaG room will not be big enough if the number auditioning is similar to La Ronde. Rights for the play need to be purchased soon, Lisa is on this also.

5. New Works
The New Works committee has met, consisting so far of four people. Finding judges is still a problem. A reminder will go in the newsletter about the deadline for submissions to New Works (January 9) to encourage proposals.

6. Publicity Officer
Three people have expressed an interest so far. A discussion was had on the best way to choose from the candidates who put themselves forward, and whether it was good to invite people to speak with the board. There was concern that it might be intimidating for candidates to come down and speak to 14 people, but it was hard to judge people just from emails and that it was good to exchange ideas. S. Gregson will email those interested inviting them to the next board meeting.

7. Plans for Next Semester
There is a Citizens Theatre workshop booked for the 26th of February. A large venue needs to be booked for this, for example the Debates Chamber. Publicity for this workshop needs to be better than for the one in October, as that one suffered from low attendance.
Some technical equipment will need to be purchased in time for New Works. So far a dimmer rack has been bought by L. Taylor, although it has not yet been tested. A brief discussion of the dimmer rack's technical specifications and capabilities was had by A. Rutherford and L. Taylor, while C. Felstead explained to the rest of the board what a dimmer rack is.

8. Community Theatre
J. May will consider some exciting ideas for community theatre things to do next semester.

9. Any Other Business
A re-evaluation of the roles of board members was briefly considered, to be further explored next semester.
T. Pennock reminded everybody to give him money for the board trip.
Somebody or other brought up the idea of a lighting workshop. This could take place in the James Arnott Theatre, although the lighting grid would be a somewhat different experience to the usual experience of lighting in STaG, and the number of participants would have to be very limited. The studio in the theatre studies building was also considered as a potential venue, although the James Arnott Theatre was considered "more interesting".

10. Christmas
S. Gregson wished everyone a merry Christmas. T. Pennock had objections to this proposal and a vote was called, with 4 in favour and 3 opposed. The motion was passed in favour of a Merry Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!