Hey all,
I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. In this post we have some fun things coming up, some necessary postponements, and some guidelines for getting a play you’d like to see us do produced.
Starting with the fun things, I will be discussing when we will hold auditions for K2 and Birth and Afterbirth with Wally and Dee. Since we won’t be in our own space as soon as we had planned, we will most likely run these as fundraisers offsite, just like Reggie and Justin’s shows. Stay tuned!
At 7pm on Wednesday the 30th of December we will be meeting at the church to discuss the fundraiser. This will be our major fundraiser for the year, so we need to pull out all the stops. We will need people to canvas businesses to get donations and invite them to the event. We need folks to act in the murder mystery. And we will need workers for the event – ticket takers, greeters, schmoozers, etc. At this meeting we will be assigning folks to all these positions. Please invite anyone who is interested in getting the theater back up and running!
This brings us to the postponements. As mentioned in the last post, due to delays in getting the building opened up we will be waiting until we have a firmer date on having all the utilities turned on before we set the date for the fundraiser (above). This also pushes back the first season show, Rugburns. Please show up for the meeting on the 30th to help us decide how and when we want the fundraiser to take place. I know that some of you are chafing at the bit to get started producing shows, but the timing for the rest of the season depends on when we get the doors open, not on an exact date. We need to put together the timeline from ‘D-Day’ on.
Now for submitting a play for consideration. I met with Drew and Glen to put together a list of questions that need to be answered for any show you would like to propose for production. You can submit this worksheet to me by any method (paper, electronic, etc). Please be as complete as you can, and feel free to add any info that you might think will make it easier to decide on the play. (if you want this in electronic format, let me know and I will email it to you).
Montana Actor’s Theater – Center Stage
Production Proposal worksheet
1. Name of play:
2. Author:
3. Type (comedy, tragedy, musical):
4. Rights Holder:
5. Royalties:
6. Length of show (one-act? full length?):
7. Last time performed locally: by whom?:
8. Proposed director:
9. Size of cast (M/F):
10. Set description (blackbox, interior, etc):
11. Will this coincide well with any holidays or events?:
12. Does the play “fit” with our mission and vision and with our community?:
13. Do we have the personnel to put this show on?:
14. Estimate of budget for show:
15. Target audience:
16. Language concerns (accents, coarseness, etc):
17. Sponsorship tie-ins?:
18. Costuming concerns:
19. Tech concerns:
20. Portability to other stages:
21. What location do you think work best for this show?:
Thanks for reading this, and I hope to see ALL of you on Wednesday!
BC
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Hey all,
As a simplified way to convey all the info from the meeting last night at the church, I am simply reposting the email from Dana. It covers pretty much everything I was going to say. Thanks to everyone who participated. Also, if you know of anyone who is interested in the theater and has not been told about this blog, please feel free to forward this address to them!
BC
__________________________________________________
Hi everyone
Just wanted to kind of recap the meeting last night for Tianta, Dee (and everyone else).
I think that the meeting was very productive. There were several things discussed, so I’ll try to just give an overview of each and where we hope to be able to go with it from here.
1. Communication is KEY! Everyone’s voice equally important. All communications need to be open. Set up a distribution list in your email, include the montanaactors@yahoo.com account, use it, and hit “reply all” when you respond. Check the montanaactors@yahoo.com account, password is art. I know there was some confusion as to the barrage of emails flying at the start and we tried to alleviate that with “a chain of command” but that has led to the miscommunication and cliques that CS had before. Right now, it is of utmost importance that everyone be involved to the point that they want to be and open communication will make that possible. Use of the subject line will allow people to decide on their own if the information pertains to or is important to them. Yes, there still is a chain of command. Each function has a committee, but those committees also need to include all those interested. Advisory council should also be open to the general membership, decisions should be made by the council or by the full board if need be, but input needs to come from everyone.
2. Attitudes. There must be a conscious effort on everyone’s part to change from the way things have always been done to making this a positive, productive environment.—and that is going to take effort!
3. The Building. MAT has an attorney working through the legalities of getting CS Corp reinstated and making sure that when all taxes and bills that are known of now are paid that a clean title will be able to be transferred to MAT. (It is my understanding that Drew, his father and Mike Davis are the “committee” that will reincorporate as CS Corp.) At the point the title is transferred, CS Corp will dissolve or involuntarily dissolve. The building is a priority to all of us and as soon as we are sure that there will not be any additional problems and that the title will be able to be transferred, bills will be paid and utilities turned back on. We are not doing so prior to that for two reasons. 1. If we try to operate MAT-GF in a building owned by CS, taxes on the building will have to be paid (as CS will no longer be using the building for non-profit purposes) 2. Depending on the time-line, we don’t want to pay utilities on a building we can’t use. – That’s not to say that we want to procrastinate. We know the building is going to take a lot of work and money to get it to the point where we want it and we know that will take some time in between turning utilities on and opening the doors and those are expenses we are willing to incur. _Drew, what was the downtown improvement assn called that your dad was talking about?
4. The name. I have mixed feelings on this as well… When we first approached CS, we said “we don’t want your building and we don’t want you to lose your name/logo” and I don’t want there to be any confusion as to our purpose and/or mixed feelings as to where we are going. That said, a vote was taken to decide on a name and Montana Actors’ Theatre - Great Falls was chosen.
5. Responsibilities. The success/failure of this depends on all of us. Brian has an uphill battle ahead of him as the leader of MAT-GF but it is not all his responsibility, we must all put forth our best efforts and attitudes to help him. Mistakes will be made, have been made and we must learn from them, not focus on blaming/criticizing and focus on solutions. Full job descriptions, productions timelines, production teams will alleviate some of the confusion we have seen and time will help us to develop consistency in our way of doing business. – In talking about “jobs”, one thing I would like to see is that everyone would know approximately where in the process things should be on every show/event we do and if there is question as to whether something has/has not been done then the person questioning can go to the appropriate person and say, “Hey, are the posters done for this show, have arrangements been made for this location, when are auditions, who is going to mc, etc” – and if not, what can I do to help get this done? Yes, certain people have certain responsibilities but we are all human, need help sometimes and don’t ask for it. Production teams and timelines should alleviate 99% of that and if there are issues beyond that, then they need to come to the full board for resolution.
Deb has been working on job descriptions for Missoula, Jay and I have been as well and it needs to be a priority as well as the development of a system of doing business for GF. We will work on these things with your help, send them out for review to all of you and then take them to the board for approval. Feel free to make suggestions or if you would like to create your own preliminary job description – please do and send them to us.
6. Fundraiser. We are going to postpone Death by Dessert. It needs to be in conjunction with the opening of the building and we just don’t know at this point when that will be. We will start the title search process as soon as we have word from our attorney to go ahead, which should be in the next 10 days or so. After that we should have a lot more information on how long things are going to take and can plan accordingly. We will keep everyone informed. We will meet as planned jan. 30th (ask Brian for details).
7. Shows. As we try to resolve the issues with the building, we will be doing off-site shows and fundraisers to get our name out there, to create an audience, to raise money along the way, and to DO THEATRE. K2 and Birth and After Birth are already scheduled – I’d like to see a production team and timeline on both of those immediately. – Absolutely, if we are talking about a Jan. 23rd date for an opening. We also talked about Michael (?) helping to bring in a big-name for a fundraiser when we are a little more stable.
I am excited to see new faces and increased enthusiasm each time we meet and I know we can overcome the frustrations. We have the ability, the resources, the talent to do this – let’s make it happen.
Can someone get contact information to me for those people that were there last night and that I have not emailed here today? I’d especially like to talk with Mr. Adams (?) wife about her ability to help us with searching for and/or writing grants.
Merry Christmas!!!
Dana
I’m sure I missed something, so feel free to add your thoughts.
As a simplified way to convey all the info from the meeting last night at the church, I am simply reposting the email from Dana. It covers pretty much everything I was going to say. Thanks to everyone who participated. Also, if you know of anyone who is interested in the theater and has not been told about this blog, please feel free to forward this address to them!
BC
__________________________________________________
Hi everyone
Just wanted to kind of recap the meeting last night for Tianta, Dee (and everyone else).
I think that the meeting was very productive. There were several things discussed, so I’ll try to just give an overview of each and where we hope to be able to go with it from here.
1. Communication is KEY! Everyone’s voice equally important. All communications need to be open. Set up a distribution list in your email, include the montanaactors@yahoo.com account, use it, and hit “reply all” when you respond. Check the montanaactors@yahoo.com account, password is art. I know there was some confusion as to the barrage of emails flying at the start and we tried to alleviate that with “a chain of command” but that has led to the miscommunication and cliques that CS had before. Right now, it is of utmost importance that everyone be involved to the point that they want to be and open communication will make that possible. Use of the subject line will allow people to decide on their own if the information pertains to or is important to them. Yes, there still is a chain of command. Each function has a committee, but those committees also need to include all those interested. Advisory council should also be open to the general membership, decisions should be made by the council or by the full board if need be, but input needs to come from everyone.
2. Attitudes. There must be a conscious effort on everyone’s part to change from the way things have always been done to making this a positive, productive environment.—and that is going to take effort!
3. The Building. MAT has an attorney working through the legalities of getting CS Corp reinstated and making sure that when all taxes and bills that are known of now are paid that a clean title will be able to be transferred to MAT. (It is my understanding that Drew, his father and Mike Davis are the “committee” that will reincorporate as CS Corp.) At the point the title is transferred, CS Corp will dissolve or involuntarily dissolve. The building is a priority to all of us and as soon as we are sure that there will not be any additional problems and that the title will be able to be transferred, bills will be paid and utilities turned back on. We are not doing so prior to that for two reasons. 1. If we try to operate MAT-GF in a building owned by CS, taxes on the building will have to be paid (as CS will no longer be using the building for non-profit purposes) 2. Depending on the time-line, we don’t want to pay utilities on a building we can’t use. – That’s not to say that we want to procrastinate. We know the building is going to take a lot of work and money to get it to the point where we want it and we know that will take some time in between turning utilities on and opening the doors and those are expenses we are willing to incur. _Drew, what was the downtown improvement assn called that your dad was talking about?
4. The name. I have mixed feelings on this as well… When we first approached CS, we said “we don’t want your building and we don’t want you to lose your name/logo” and I don’t want there to be any confusion as to our purpose and/or mixed feelings as to where we are going. That said, a vote was taken to decide on a name and Montana Actors’ Theatre - Great Falls was chosen.
5. Responsibilities. The success/failure of this depends on all of us. Brian has an uphill battle ahead of him as the leader of MAT-GF but it is not all his responsibility, we must all put forth our best efforts and attitudes to help him. Mistakes will be made, have been made and we must learn from them, not focus on blaming/criticizing and focus on solutions. Full job descriptions, productions timelines, production teams will alleviate some of the confusion we have seen and time will help us to develop consistency in our way of doing business. – In talking about “jobs”, one thing I would like to see is that everyone would know approximately where in the process things should be on every show/event we do and if there is question as to whether something has/has not been done then the person questioning can go to the appropriate person and say, “Hey, are the posters done for this show, have arrangements been made for this location, when are auditions, who is going to mc, etc” – and if not, what can I do to help get this done? Yes, certain people have certain responsibilities but we are all human, need help sometimes and don’t ask for it. Production teams and timelines should alleviate 99% of that and if there are issues beyond that, then they need to come to the full board for resolution.
Deb has been working on job descriptions for Missoula, Jay and I have been as well and it needs to be a priority as well as the development of a system of doing business for GF. We will work on these things with your help, send them out for review to all of you and then take them to the board for approval. Feel free to make suggestions or if you would like to create your own preliminary job description – please do and send them to us.
6. Fundraiser. We are going to postpone Death by Dessert. It needs to be in conjunction with the opening of the building and we just don’t know at this point when that will be. We will start the title search process as soon as we have word from our attorney to go ahead, which should be in the next 10 days or so. After that we should have a lot more information on how long things are going to take and can plan accordingly. We will keep everyone informed. We will meet as planned jan. 30th (ask Brian for details).
7. Shows. As we try to resolve the issues with the building, we will be doing off-site shows and fundraisers to get our name out there, to create an audience, to raise money along the way, and to DO THEATRE. K2 and Birth and After Birth are already scheduled – I’d like to see a production team and timeline on both of those immediately. – Absolutely, if we are talking about a Jan. 23rd date for an opening. We also talked about Michael (?) helping to bring in a big-name for a fundraiser when we are a little more stable.
I am excited to see new faces and increased enthusiasm each time we meet and I know we can overcome the frustrations. We have the ability, the resources, the talent to do this – let’s make it happen.
Can someone get contact information to me for those people that were there last night and that I have not emailed here today? I’d especially like to talk with Mr. Adams (?) wife about her ability to help us with searching for and/or writing grants.
Merry Christmas!!!
Dana
I’m sure I missed something, so feel free to add your thoughts.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Current status
Hey all,
Drew and I Skyped the weekly Sunday meeting with Havre, and things are going well. Mike Davis, Jan Lovec and Drew Lovec were able to get most if not all of the information we need regarding getting the bills paid. I will email that information out to all and sundry (if you don’t get a copy, please let me know and I will get you on the mailing list). With this info we should be able to get people and money moving in the right directions.
Apparently we can let the utility companies know that someone besides Mike or Grogan is coming in to make payments, so that will work ok. But the first thing we need to do is to find out for certain what our “corporate status” is. If we are still a corporation we can simply deed the title over to MAT. If not we will need to incorporate again, at least long enough to sign the title over, and then either dissolve or let CSI dissolve involuntarily (doesn’t matter which). We may need to pay the government fees (the “non-profit taxes”) first before we can do the actual transfer, but it may be able to occur at the same time. Understandably, MAT would like to see the title transfer happening before we shell out the money for all of the unpaid bills.
I will try to speak to a real person at the Secretary of State’s office this week to find out about our status. If anyone else has hard evidence, please let me know ASAP.
On the artistic side, Justin Fatz’ show ‘Fully Committed’ is going up on Thursday Dec. 17th at the Lobby Bar, 518 Central Ave. Tickets are available online at the MAT website or at the door for $12.50. This is a great show, with Mr. Fatz portraying 40 different characters. Let everyone you can think of know about it and get them down to the Lobby!. Let’s fill the theater for this one, folks!
First rehearsal for Tianta’s show was tonite, but I haven’t heard how that went. And we are still on for “Death by Dessert” on January 23rd at the Heritage Inn. First meeting for getting this fundraiser rolling is going to be Wednesday Dec 30th, so anyone (and EVERYONE) who wants to (NEEDS to) be involved please attend.
We need to make this one count. We are going to need people for all positions, from performers to representatives to corporations to staffers for the event, we want to start filling those slots as soon as possible. THIS ONE IS GAMETIME, FOLKS!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Center Stage membership meeting
We are on our way! During a meeting with the board and general members of Center Stage this evening, two decisions were made. First, a task force was formed of Mike Davis, Drew Lovec, and Jan Lovec to sort out the confusion of the ownership of our building, what all is owed and to whom, and to figure out a method to get it paid. Second, it was decided that when this is done, the intent of Center Stage is to either merge with MAT or to dissolve and transfer title to MAT.
Along with all this, we will continue working to get the doors open and utilities turned on so we can get our first show cast and into rehearsals. Auditions for 'Rugburns' are temporarily on hold until we have a better timeline for getting the building opened. Stay tuned. One idea if we can't get this show up in time for a February opening we may want to put up something else offsite to keep things rolling, possibly 'K2'.
We will continue with our fundraising, including Justin Fatz' show 'Fully Committed' on the 17th (bring your friends!), the office party entertainment on the 19th (rehearsals start this Sunday - contact Tianta), and 'Death by Dessert' on January 23rd at the Heritage Inn.
The Advisory Council will be meeting at Tianta's house tomorrow, Thursday the 10th, at 7:00. Be ready to discuss Justin's show, Tianta's show, and possible other shows for us to perform.
next: what do i need to do to direct a play at MAT-CS?
Along with all this, we will continue working to get the doors open and utilities turned on so we can get our first show cast and into rehearsals. Auditions for 'Rugburns' are temporarily on hold until we have a better timeline for getting the building opened. Stay tuned. One idea if we can't get this show up in time for a February opening we may want to put up something else offsite to keep things rolling, possibly 'K2'.
We will continue with our fundraising, including Justin Fatz' show 'Fully Committed' on the 17th (bring your friends!), the office party entertainment on the 19th (rehearsals start this Sunday - contact Tianta), and 'Death by Dessert' on January 23rd at the Heritage Inn.
The Advisory Council will be meeting at Tianta's house tomorrow, Thursday the 10th, at 7:00. Be ready to discuss Justin's show, Tianta's show, and possible other shows for us to perform.
next: what do i need to do to direct a play at MAT-CS?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
3:00 for the meeting!
Heard from Jay this morning. The meeting will be at 3 pm at the library (for GF).
See ya there!
See ya there!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Long Range Planning Meeting - Dec 6th
Hey all!
We have a planning meeting scheduled for either 2:30 OR 3:00pm Sunday Dec 6th at the Great Falls Public Library. Grant asked if we could change from 3 to 2:30, but I haven't heard what is official yet. Either check back here by Sunday, say 1:00, or check your email for final updates. You can even call me!
This will be an online meeting from our end, with one each laptop chatting on Skype with both Missoula and Havre. Please let me know in advance if you will be attending, and what time if you will be late. We should be in the large meeting room in the basement (use the elevator), so there will be plenty of space, but not a lot of 'face time' on camera due to limited video. We also need to remember to talk only one at time to keep it from getting too confusing.
Hope to see you there!!
Brian
We have a planning meeting scheduled for either 2:30 OR 3:00pm Sunday Dec 6th at the Great Falls Public Library. Grant asked if we could change from 3 to 2:30, but I haven't heard what is official yet. Either check back here by Sunday, say 1:00, or check your email for final updates. You can even call me!
This will be an online meeting from our end, with one each laptop chatting on Skype with both Missoula and Havre. Please let me know in advance if you will be attending, and what time if you will be late. We should be in the large meeting room in the basement (use the elevator), so there will be plenty of space, but not a lot of 'face time' on camera due to limited video. We also need to remember to talk only one at time to keep it from getting too confusing.
Hope to see you there!!
Brian
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Welcome!
Welcome, fellow Center Stagers! I decided that because we have so many folks asking questions about what is happening down at CS that I would just set up a blog to keep you all informed.
As many of you already know, Center Stage has decided to merge with Montana Actors' Theatre, a very successful regional theatre based out of Havre and Missoula at the New Crystal Theater. They have generously offered to help us get out of our financial dilemma by assisting us with fundraising and creating an economy of scale, with one organization to take care of all the business aspects of the group. This will allow us to get back to what we do best - producing great shows!
With this in mind, at the November board meeting the membership elected three board members from Great Falls to the MAT board - Bruce Huff, Glen Weeks, and Phil Faccenda. Brian Court (me) was elected as Artistic Director, DeeAnna Briggs was elected as Business Manager, and Tianta Nelson as Marketing Director. We have since selected Drew Lovec as Tech Director and Wally Bossie as Building Manager.
With the merger, we have changed the way we do business. We are still a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so donations will continue to be tax-deductible. Our board of directors will be in charge of providing what we need to get the job done, but day to day operations now fall to the AD and Business Manager. If you have any questions about money, talk to Dee. If you need anything else, get in touch with me!
Right now we are working on getting the building opened up again. To that end we are working on getting the roof patched and the utilities turned back on. We will be needing a LOT of help getting the rest of the building in shape for our first show, scheduled for the end of January 2010!
We have already had one fundraiser, with Reggie Watts and Matt Keller providing entertainment at the BECC on November 24th, and have several more in the works. We will be out in front of our building on the Christmas Stroll letting people know that we are back, Justin Fatz is bringing his one-man play Fully Committed to Great Falls for us in December, and we will be performing for an office party right before Christmas, to mention a few more fundraisers. This will all culminate in a "Death by Dessert" fundraising party at the Heritage Inn on January 23rd, one week before we open our first show!
Watch this space to stay updated!
As many of you already know, Center Stage has decided to merge with Montana Actors' Theatre, a very successful regional theatre based out of Havre and Missoula at the New Crystal Theater. They have generously offered to help us get out of our financial dilemma by assisting us with fundraising and creating an economy of scale, with one organization to take care of all the business aspects of the group. This will allow us to get back to what we do best - producing great shows!
With this in mind, at the November board meeting the membership elected three board members from Great Falls to the MAT board - Bruce Huff, Glen Weeks, and Phil Faccenda. Brian Court (me) was elected as Artistic Director, DeeAnna Briggs was elected as Business Manager, and Tianta Nelson as Marketing Director. We have since selected Drew Lovec as Tech Director and Wally Bossie as Building Manager.
With the merger, we have changed the way we do business. We are still a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so donations will continue to be tax-deductible. Our board of directors will be in charge of providing what we need to get the job done, but day to day operations now fall to the AD and Business Manager. If you have any questions about money, talk to Dee. If you need anything else, get in touch with me!
Right now we are working on getting the building opened up again. To that end we are working on getting the roof patched and the utilities turned back on. We will be needing a LOT of help getting the rest of the building in shape for our first show, scheduled for the end of January 2010!
We have already had one fundraiser, with Reggie Watts and Matt Keller providing entertainment at the BECC on November 24th, and have several more in the works. We will be out in front of our building on the Christmas Stroll letting people know that we are back, Justin Fatz is bringing his one-man play Fully Committed to Great Falls for us in December, and we will be performing for an office party right before Christmas, to mention a few more fundraisers. This will all culminate in a "Death by Dessert" fundraising party at the Heritage Inn on January 23rd, one week before we open our first show!
Watch this space to stay updated!
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