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
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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