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

26 November 2023
 
Welcome to you all, to our 2023 AGM, and  thank you for taking the time to be here.  
 
From last year’s minutes, the following people were present at our last AGM, held on Monday 28 November 2022 here at the Elmwood auditorium: Garry Thomas, Pat Hannah, Scott Morrow, Matt Holland, Sally Wilson, Sylvia Barnes, Sonya Cameron, Doug Clarke and Barry Grant. 
 
Apologies were received from Marilyn Ollett.
 
Our elected committee for 2022-23 was a small-ish team of 8. Garry Thomas was re-elected President, Pat Hannah was re-elected Treasurer and Scott Morrow re-elected Secretary.  The committee for the incoming year was Sylvia Barnes, Sonya Cameron, Sally Wilson, Matt Holland and Barry Grant. During the later part of this year, Holly Sutcliffe also joined the committee. Hilary Muir continued as our Patron.
 
Scott Morrow was awarded a Life Membership for his services to Elmwood Players.
 
Productions:   
Our first presentation for 2023 our Elmwood Kidz Theatre production of The Princess And The Pirate King, written and directed by Steve Millar and myself. Good houses and well received, this was a great start to the year, and with no performance rights involved this proved to be financially successful production.
 
April brought the comedy Keeping Up Appearances, based on the popular British TV series of the same name, and directed by Matt Holland.   This production had some casting difficulties leading up to opening night, and shows the importance of careful casting. Large houses resulted in a financially successful production.
 
In July we staged environmentally focused Big Big Sky, which I was fortunate to direct.  A well-received play by those who did attend, it highlighted the on-going concern of ‘bums on seats’, with attendance numbers slightly below what was expected.
 
August saw the staging of three one act plays under the Array ’23 banner. The three plays staged were Is This Seat Taken directed by Sylvia Barnes, A Cut In The Rates directed By Sonya Cameron and Reduced For Quick Sale directed by Pat Hannah.  Following a review of the season, the committee decided not to continue with the staging of a season of one acts next year.
 
Our final production for 2023 was 12 Angry Jurors, directed by Dimitri Gibara. This was a strong production, and for me personally, our standout production for the year.  A strong cast, an experienced director and a very good script were all the right ingredients for a successful season.
 
2023 also saw the celebration of our 75th year. A big thank you to Barry Grant, Sally Wilson and Sonya Cameron for their efforts in co-ordinating a celebration of this event in September.  A number of past Elmwood-ites were present, with some wonderful insights provided by Ross Gumbley, assisted by our Patron, Hilary Muir.
 
 
In summary:
2023 was a good year for Elmwood Players, with generally good-ish patronage and feedback. However patronage is an issue, and the challenge for the in-coming committee will be to look at marketing and promotion of our productions.
 
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. 
 
It is also with some sadness that I advise I will be stepping down from the role of President of Elmwood Players, and will not be standing for the role this coming year.  It’s been a fun ride over the past 15 or so years, at times challenging –think  earthquakes, a pandemic – but always, always so rewarding.
 
 
Cheers
 
Garry Thomas
President
Elmwood Players

Presidents Report
 
Welcome to you all, to our 2022 AGM, and thank you for taking the time to be here.  
 
From last year’s minutes, the following people were present at our last AGM, held on 22 November 2021 here at the Elmwood auditorium: Garry Thomas, Pat Hannah, Franc Bol, Sylvia Barnes, Matt Holland, Barry Grant, Doug Clarke and Marilyn Ollett.         
 
Apologies were received from Braydon Priest and Scott Morrow.
 
As per the previous two years, 2022 again proved to be another challenging one with the unpredictable impact of Covid-19.  However, this year we were able to stage all our planned productions.
 
Our elected committee for 2021-22 was a small team of 6, with a number of former committee members stepping down.  Garry Thomas was re-elected President and Pat Hannah was elected Treasurer.  We were unable to elect a Secretary at the AGM, but that role was subsequently picked up by Scott Morrow.  The committee for the incoming year was Franc Bol, Sylvia Barnes and Matt Holland. Hilary Muir continued as our Patron.
 
During the year Franc Bol stepped down from committee, but we were fortunate to welcome back to the committee both Sally Wilson and Sonya Cameron.  We also welcomed newcomer Ashlyn Moore.
 
Productions:   
Our first presentation for 2022 was in January with the deferred from 2021 musical, Bugsy Malone, directed by Franc Bol.  A challenging production in many ways it was extremely well received and attended.  The committee’s thanks go to director Franc for her determination in getting this onstage.
 
April brought us the Ben Elton comedy, Silly Cow, directed by Jon Amesbury.  Some casting difficulties surrounded this production with the lead pulling out of the production a few short weeks prior to opening.  We were fortunate to have Nikki Conyers step into the role and ensure the production went ahead.  The play was well received and big thanks must go to the whole team – on and off stage – for this production.
 
In July we staged the black comedy, God Of Carnage, which I was fortunate to direct.  The challenges for this production weren’t as great as our previous production – I guess the only one really was being able to convincingly vomit on stage – big thanks to those behind that special effect.
 
We were very happy people in Elmwoodland when in August we were able to stage a four night season of short plays under the Array ’22 banner.  Two plays from the cancelled Array ’21 plus a new play were staged.  Those plays were A Sequence Of Events, directed by Sylvia Barnes, What’s For Pudding, directed by Matt Holland and One Good Beating directed by myself.  The cabaret style presentation, with live music and MC’s by our Patron Hilary Muir did struggle for an audience, particularly opening night.  We are reviewing the staging of our one acts for next year.
 
Our final production for 2022 was another comedy, Ladies’ Day directed by Elmwood stalwart Marilyn Ollett in October.  We welcomed a number of new faces to Elmwood for this production.  And my thanks to committee member Sylvia Barnes who gained us a corporate booking for opening night, which resulted in this production making a healthy profit.
 
In summary:
2022 wasn’t a too bad kind of year, with generally good-ish patronage and feedback. However patronage is an issue, and the marketing of our productions will be an early focus for the incoming committee. And once again, our revenue for auditorium hires also took a hit, with only a few number of external hires.  On the plus side, we do have all our productions finalised for Elmwood Players for 2023, and I’m sure it’s going to be a great year!
 
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.  I’d also like to acknowledge the contributions of both Spencer Travers and Craig Blaikie who assisted with the technical side of things.
 
 
Cheers
 
Garry Thomas
President
Elmwood Players

Welcome to you all, to our 2021 AGM;  thank you for taking the time to be here.  
 
From last year’s minutes, the following people were present at our last AGM, held on 29 November 2020 at the Elmwood Tavern:  Garry Thomas, Scott Morrow, Sally Wilson, Franc Bol, Sylvia Barnes, Marcella Herrera,   Braydon Priest, Ian Lester, Matt McKenna and Doug Clarke.         
 
Apologies were received from Pat Hannah.
 
As with 2020, this year proved to be  another challenging one, with the unpredictable impact of Covid-19.  We were fortunate that we were able to stage three productions, but of course the downside was the loss of our season of one acts and the deferral of Bugsy Malone.    
 
Our elected committee for 2020-21 was a largeish team of 11.  Garry Thomas was re-elected President, Sally Wilson re-elected as Secretary and Matt McKenna re-elected as Treasurer (until April of this year).  Committee members were Braydon Priest, Ian Lester, Scott Morrow, Marcella Herrera, Franc Bol, Sylvia Barnes, Pat Hannah and John Armstrong.  Hilary Muir continued as our Patron.
 
During the year, Matt McKenna, John Armstrong, Ian Lester, Marcella Herrera and most recently Sally Wilson all stepped down for various reasons.   Pat Hannah stepped into the Treasurer role and Matt Holland was welcomed on board the committee.
 
Productions:   
Our first presentation for 2021 was in January with our continued Kidz Theatre productions, this year with The New Adventures Of Snow White And Rose Red, written and directed by Steve Millar and I.   This was a well-attended production, and as with the previous year, with no performance rights it was relatively cost effective to stage.
 
Our first adult production for this year was Daughters of Heaven, directed by Gretchen Nijsse.   This production had been held over from the Covid disrupted previous year.  The production was extremely popular with large houses. However, behind the scenes was problematic and stretched and challenged those involved in staging it. Our second production for 2021 was Hudson & Halls: Live!.  This proved difficult to cast, and we were fortunate in being able to reschedule it from its June pack-away set slot to July, during the school break, which assisted with casting and the actual staging. Original director Ian Lester was unable to continue, and we were fortunate in gaining the experienced Tom Vavasour to pick this up. Next up was Array ‘21, set for opening on Wednesday 18 August. At 11:59 on Tuesday 17 August, we went into Level 4 lockdown. Attempts to reschedule Array ‘21 proved unsuccessful, and it was subsequently cancelled. It is hoped that the three one act plays involved will be staged next year, as part of Array ’22. Our next scheduled production was Bugsy Malone for October of this year – however, once again Covid-19 had the final say, and this production has been rescheduled for this coming January. The impact of Covid-19 highlights the challenges faced by many of us in the planning and staging of events.
 
 
 
In summary:
2021 was another challenging year for Elmwood Players, with perhaps the cancelling of Array ’21 being the most disappointing. I don’t think I’ve experienced anything much worse than packing out a show several weeks after packing in, without a performance taking place.  My acknowledgement here to all those involved. I’d also like to acknowledge the tenacity of Franc Bol, who’s directing of Bugsy Malone has been put to the test, with that production being rescheduled to January, and with the Covid-19 cloud still present. Our revenue for auditorium hires also took a hit, with the likes of Repertory and others not staging productions during the course of this year. On the plus side, we do have all our productions finalised for Elmwood Players for 2022, and if everything lines up, it’s going to be a great year!
 
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.  I’d also like to acknowledge the contributions of both Sally Wilson and Braydon Priest, who will not be returning to the Elmwood Players committee for 2022.
 
 
Cheers
 
Garry Thomas
President
Elmwood Players

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