We welcome our incoming Executive team for 2025 …
President: Sonya Cameron
Treasurer: Pat Hannah
Secretary: Sally Wilson
Committee: Matt Holland, Genna Kate Ryan, Victoria Clare, Patricia Stowell, Lesley Hamel, Spencer Travers, Garry Thomas

​A b!g congratulations to Matt Holland, who was elected to being an Elmwood Players Life Member. He's looking pretty relaxed here, but man, he's into everything - directing, crewing, teching, Front of Housing - you name it, he's done it. Well deserved, congratulations Matt!

Welcome to our 2024 AGM.  

Admin:
Our elected committee for 2024 was a team of seven. Sonya Cameron was elected President, Pat Hannah was re-elected Treasurer and Holly Sutcliffe elected Secretary.  The committee members were Garry Thomas, Sylvia Barnes, Sally Wilson and Matt Holland.  Changes happened quickly however, with Sylvia withdrawing, and both Genna Kate Ryan and Victoria Claire joining us.  Holly then was forced to withdraw due to her pregnancy, but we are happy to report that both Holly and her new son are doing well.  Sally stepped back into the role of Secretary.  In addition to the committee we had Spencer Travers as our “minister outside of cabinet” to look after our technical assets.  Hilary Muir continued as our Patron. 

  
Productions:
We planned our productions for 2024 around a theme of comedy, with three of our five plays also being NZ written.  
Our five plays were Daisy and the Dragon (NZ), written and directed by Garry Thomas and Steve Millar; Dateline (NZ), written and directed by Barry Grant; The Pink Hammer (NZ) by Michele Amas, directed by Garry Thomas & Steve Millar; My Brilliant Divorce by Geraldine Aron, directed by Susan Cameron; and The Sweet Delilah Swim Club by Jones Hope Wooten, directed by myself.
The quality of the productions was well appreciated by patrons, but we had lower than expected houses overall, which was disappointing.  Audience feedback has been used to help guide our planning for next year.
Of note, we staged the longer one act play My Brilliant Divorce in our August packaway slot instead of our usual season of shorter one act plays.  Seen as a bit of a risk due to being a one-woman play, it was very well received, and shows it’s okay to take the occasional risk.
 
 
Behind the scenes:
Running a community theatre group is more than just producing plays.  We also juggle ongoing maintenance and improvements to equipment and processes.  This year we undertook a few small projects to enhance our ability to stage plays and to make life a little easier for those working behind the scenes.  Projects completed in 2024 were
• Holding an introductory technical course by Spencer Travers, which has resulted in a new operator joining the roster to continue learning
• Holding an introductory director’s course, which has had people asking for a follow up “next steps” course
• Increasing our supply of lights
• Cleanouts and organisation of our wardrobe & props room and the technical booth
• Obtaining wireless comms for use by backstage, FOH and technical crew; we are very grateful for a grant from Pub Charity to enable this
• Stabilising our approach to FOH supplies, including switching to mini wine bottles to help with portion control and host responsibility, and offering a wider variety of food

In summary:
It has been a difficult year to sell tickets, not just for us, but across the whole theatre space in Christchurch.  We have been evaluating how we advertise, and know that one approach does not suit all types of plays, so we started looking at how to tailor advertising to the play and audience.  Experiments done this year weren’t always successful, but the results will be used to inform plans for 2025.
We have had great artistic success, but the workload is taking its toll on the small Elmwood Players committee.  We have a few volunteers we can call on for help on occasion, but I have to say it’s not enough at present.  The incoming committee will need to focus on increasing our volunteer base and committee membership, or it’s possible not all of our planned productions or projects for 2025 will go ahead.
My thanks go to the hard-working current committee, to our other valued volunteers, and to all who supported Elmwood Players in 2024.


Sonya Cameron
President
Elmwood Players