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2020 End Of Year AGM & President's Report

7/1/2021

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2020 saw Elmwood Players move their AGM from February to November, to allow existing committee to reflect on the year that has been before rehearsals get into full swing for the following year's programme.

The new committee ushered in for 2021 is: Garry Thomas (President), Matt McKenna (Treasurer), Sally Wilson (Secretary), along with Scott Morrow, Marcella Herrera, Sylvia Barnes, Franc Bol, Pat Hannah, Ian Lester, Braydon Priest and John Armstrong.

President's Report
​A warm welcome to you all to our 2020 AGM; thank you for taking the time to be here. This is in fact our
second AGM for this year, with us moving all future AGMs to November, once our final production for each
year has been completed.

From last year’s minutes, the following people were present at our last AGM, held on 23 February of this
year: Garry Thomas, Braydon Priest, Andrea Quinlan, Susan Cameron, Jon Amesbury, Doug Clarke, Matt
McKenna, Sally Wilson, Sammie Murray and Sandy Wilson.

Apologies were received from Libby Wilson, Hilary Muir and Marilyn Ollett.
​
It goes without saying that 2020 was a challenging year, not just for Elmwood Players, and not just theatre in general, but pretty much Planet Earth. We were fortunate enough to be able to stage two productions,
along with a number of play readings as well as celebrating our 25 years in the Elmwood Auditorium.
Our elected committee for 2020 was a small team of 6. Garry Thomas was re-elected President, Andrea
Quinlan became our Secretary and Matt McKenna took over as Treasurer. Committee members were
Braydon Priest, Sammie Murray and Sally Wilson. Hilary Muir continued as our Patron.

During the year, both Sammie Murray and Andrea Quinlan stepped down from the committee, with Sally
taking up the secretary role along with the membership portfolio. Scott Morrow and Marcella Herrera
became committee members during the course of the year.

Productions:
Our first presentation for 2020 was in January with our continued Kidz Theatre productions, this year with
Johnny Appleseed – The Boy Who Saved The World, written and directed by Steve Millar and I. This was a
well received and well attended production, and with no performance rights it was relatively cost effective
to stage. There’s always a need to be cautious with Kidz Theatre productions with regards to the costs in
staging, with performance rights being significantly high.
Our first, and as it turned out only adult production for this year was Waiting For God, directed by Barry
Grant. Simply staged and well received, this production was exactly what was needed to end the year. My
thanks to all involved. This production is a testament to the tenacity of theatre people, given it was all set to
hit the stage in April, but due to Covid-19 it was a long wait until it did finally open at the end of September.
The Year That Was – Or Wasn’t:

Our remaining planned productions for the year, Daughters Of Heaven, Talk and Array ’20 obviously weren’t
so lucky, with Covid-19 meaning they could not be staged. However, the good news with Daughters Of
Heaven was that it could be rescheduled to next year, with no additional costs or penalty fees. Talk was not
able to be carried through into 2021, but with the playwright generously not intending to charge any
performance fees, there was no financial loss incurred.

With the lockdown came the opportunity for us to hold - via Zoom - a number of play readings, which were a lot of fun on a locked down Saturday afternoon.

We also managed to hold a celebration party, with a gathering in late October to mark our 25 years in this
auditorium. My thanks to Braydon and Marcella for their work on this.

Marketing/Sponsorship/Funding:
Again, obviously with only two productions staged, there was limited opportunity to explore sponsorship,
but that, along with funding needs to be addressed by the incoming committee. Social media was where it
was at for marketing and promoting this year, and a big thanks to Braydon Priest for his work and expertise
here.

Financials:
Also a big thank you to Matt McKenna who stepped in to the Treasurer role this year, and with that came
some new ideas. On-line banking, some pretty impressive spreadsheets and better use of PatronBase were
all the result of Matt’s hard work. Thanks to Matt for that. And just a note regarding financials, our income
was reduced this year, not just by only staging two productions, but also the hire of the auditorium dropped
away. For any performance that a hirer uses Elmwood Players equipment – sound, lighting - there’s a $110
per performance charge, so you can see how the lack of others such as Repertory and Imagine Children’s
Theatre staging productions impacted on us financially.

In summary:
So, a crazy year for Elmwood Players, and a very challenging one coming up for 2021 with three quite
different but demanding productions – Daughters Of Heaven, Hudson & Halls Live and our musical, Bugsy Malone.

​So with that, I’d like to thank the current committee for their continued support, and obviously, my thanks
go to all who supported Elmwood Players over the past 12 months, both on and off stage

Cheers
Garry Thomas
President
Elmwood Players
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2020 Season

6/9/2020

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Legendary stories armed with well known characters will have you needing to prepare yourself for a massive 2021 at the Elmwood Auditorium! We kick off in January with the Kidz Theatre adaptation of the beloved Snow White & Rose Red, in April the infamous Christchurch Parker-Hulme murder takes the stage in Daughters Of Heaven, followed by the story of 1980s kiwi television legends Hudson & Halls Live in June. In August, Array ‘21 offers a cabaret assortment of bite-sized theatre and music, finishing with the stage adaptation of the much loved 1976 musical film, Bugsy Malone in October. Phew! Time to get the diary out!
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2020 AGM

24/2/2020

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Elmwood Players, Team 2020
Patron: Hilary Muir
President: Garry Thomas

Secretary: Andrea Quinlan
Treasurer: Matt McKenna
Committee: Sammie M, Sally Wilson, Braydon Priest


Presidents Report
A warm welcome to you all to our 2020 AGM; thank you for taking the time to be here. 
​

From last year’s minutes, the following people were present for the 2019 AGM:  Garry Thomas, Susan Cameron, Sonya Cameron, Sam Primrose, Phil Dean, Libby Wilson, Doug Clarke, Andrea Quinlan, 
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Andy Simmonds, Braydon Priest, Barry Grant, Matt McKenna.

An apology was noted for Steve Millar.

Our elected committee for 2019 was Sam Primrose, Braydon Priest, Libby Wilson, Andrea Quinlan, Andy Simmonds, Phil Dean, Matt McKenna, Susan Cameron and I.  Susan was re-elected Treasurer, Matt McKenna secretary and I was once again elected President.  Andrea Quinlan picked up the membership portfolio and Andy Simmonds continued as our technical expert.  Hilary Muir continued as our Patron. Susan Cameron was made a Life Member.

During the course of the year, Phil Dean, Andy Simmonds and Sam Primrose resigned from the committee. Joining the committee later in the year were Sally Wilson Sammie Murray, and Jon Amesbury and we welcomed back Sarah Coursey.

2019 was another excellent year for Elmwood Players, capitalising on the momentum from the previous year.  Once again, we staged 3 full length adult productions and a season of one act plays under the new Array banner, plus a children’s production under our Kidz Theatre banner.


Productions:   
Our first presentation for 2019 was in January with the Kidz Theatre Production of Rapunzel.  This was a well received and well attended production, directed by Steve Millar. Locally written, there were no performance rights to be paid for this play – a fee that in previous years has been a crippling factor. I believe our Kidz Theatre productions are an important part of Elmwood Players’ schedule, and encourage that they continue.

Our first adult production for last year was the extremely well received Calendar Girls, directed by Susan Cameron.  This was a very well attended production, with a number of sold out performances, with an average attendance of 83 people per performance.

Last year we brought forward from August to June our season of short plays, so that it did not clash with a number of other one-act plays being staged at that time of the year.  We also branded the season as Array, in this case, Array ’19.  As per the previous year, this was staged in a cabaret styled format.  The four plays staged were Hardstuff, Abandon Hope, Kevin – the  other reindeer and the monologue You.  The three nights were well attended, and well received.

August arrived, and with it the Libby Wilson directed comedy, Is The Real You Really You? A well attended season resulted, and it was pleasing to see a number of new faces on stage at Elmwood.

Our final adult production for the year was Be My Baby in October, which I was fortunate enough to direct.  This was a well received and – by Elmwood standards – a well-attended production, with an average of 38 patrons per show.


Front of House:
We continued to have a liquor licence for our adult productions last year, and will do so again this year. We also made a big effort to improve the FoH experience with table and chair seating, poster displays and food and drink selection.  We also purchased a number of second hand chairs at a reasonable price to replace those previously used in the foyer.


Marketing/Sponsorship:
Once again, our challenge for the year was marketing and sponsorship, with minimal success.  This needs to be addressed by the in-coming committee.


In summary:
The last year has been another successful one for Elmwood Players and I’d like thank the current committee for their continued support, and obviously, my thanks go to all who supported Elmwood Players over the past 12 months, both on and off stage

Cheers
Garry Thomas
President
Elmwood Players

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Cast Announcement - Johnny Appleseed

18/10/2019

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We're thrilled to announce our cast for this 2019 Kidz Theatre production!

Johnny Appleseed - Shanice Adair
Barkley - Scott Morrow
Filinder - Rachael Chamberlain
Charlie Tucker - Genna Kate Ryan
Mayor Tucker - Steve Millar
Queen Desdemona - Libby Wilson
The Chancellor - Graeme Randle
Time Spirit - Braydon Priest


Johnny Appleseed – the boy who saved the world. Join us this January when we meet up with young Johnny Appleseed and his talking, Elvis-impersonating dog Barkley as they take on the evil Queen Desdemona, who is intent on destroying the forests to fund her new venture – making plastic.

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Audition Notice - Johnny Appleseed

30/9/2019

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Audition Notice: Johnny Appleseed, On stage January 18, 19, 25 & 26 2020. Auditions this October - Click here for more information and to book your audition time: https://bit.ly/2lM2zKF
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Audition Notice - Be My Baby

26/6/2019

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Directed By Garry Thomas

Auditions Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th July.

Be My Baby, on stage from 2 - 12 October. The Guardian said "If this play was a person, you'd want to hold it and hug it". Returning to the Christchurch stage for the first time in over a decade, grab your audition time HERE: https://tinyurl.com/y66pk3a3
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Audition Notice - Is The Real You Really You?

20/5/2019

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Directed by Libby Wilson.

Auditions Saturday 8th June. On stage 8th - 17th August. Grab your audition time for hilarious comedy! Full details and booking form HERE: https://tinyurl.com/y3dmespx
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Audition Notice - Array '19

6/4/2019

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Audition time! We've got the plays locked in for ARRAY '19 (Elmwood Players' season of short plays and music) and now all we need is you! Book your time here:
https://goo.gl/forms/ifiM2WcbMu4P5FPH3
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2019 Committee

6/3/2019

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Elmwood's AGM was held on Sunday 24th February 2019. The following were elected to the Elmwood Players organising committee:

President: Garry Thomas
Treasurer: Susan Cameron
Secretary: Matt McKenna
Committee: Andy Simmonds (Technical), Andrea Quinlan (Membership), Libby Wilson, Sam Primrose (Webpage), Braydon Priest (Front of House), Phil Dean
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Cast Announcement - Calendar Girls

6/3/2019

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