TRILOGY THEATER CLUB MEMBERSHIP MEETING MAY 11, 2024
WELCOME:
President Marc Larson called the meeting to order in the multi-purpose room at 9:05 AM. He thanked the people responsible for putting on the play. He led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance.
OFFICERS' REPORTS:
Secretary: In Joyce Johnson’s absence Marc asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the previous general meeting. The minutes are posted on My TPR. Bonnie West moved to approve the minutes and Addie Abbruscato seconded. Motion carried unanimously.
Treasurer: Chuck Tebelius reported that we currently have funds totaling $18,557.05 which represents everything from the play after any outstanding expenses. He explained how we have this reserve in order to fund all future events, such as the October and December events coming up as well as any expenses related to future plays. Marsha Dahl made a motion to accept the report, Elaine Thiel seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Linda Lukey was again thanked for bringing the Theatre Club into solvency in the previous term.
Membership: Lynne reported we currently have 156 members. There will continue to be a general meeting raffle and donuts as this was intended to increase general meeting attendance. Future efforts to increase attendance could include providing coffee once again. Lynne asked if everyone got their raffle ticket for the May door prize.
Publicity: Mary had no new updates.
Exec VP: Dave Brown and volunteers re-painted the stage floor. He asked for volunteers for the AVL team, if you are interested. There is manual, online, and OTJ (on-the-job) training in addition to regular meetings where members can compare notes regarding how various events went relative to the AVL requirements, and any learnings that can be shared.
Events Director: Barbara Huff thanked Teresa Larson for the lovely greeting cards which is today’s raffle prize. She asked for any of our other talented members to sign up to contribute toward other future raffle gifts since we would like to continue doing this.
Barbara Huff introduced a new event. The Club will host an open casting call designed to generate community interest in the Theatre Club. She shared a poster to advertise dates for the casting call events during the Summer and Fall. The poster will be promoted as part of the weekly CA Lifestyle push. She asked the membership to talk it up in their individual neighborhoods and groups in which they may participate.
Barbara reported that she has spoken to current and previous cast members, as well as audience members for the purpose of obtaining input for our 2025 play. Main takeaways were:
1) A full 2-act play is too long for actors and audience
2) Actors prefer a shorter rehearsal period
Barbara said that the Board recently voted that the Theatre Club would offer several shorter plays instead of one longer play. It is anticipated that 11 weeks of rehearsal will be sufficient. Chuck suggested that we request extra weeks just to be safe.
Marc will appoint a committee for play selection over the summer months. He asked for any members who have seen any shorter plays that are fun or interesting to make tht information known to Barbara or one of the Board members.
Shirline Kish asked if we could adjust or edit a play to shorten it. Marc responded that often there is a copyright issue, and we can’t do that. An author considers his or her play to be a work of art and adjustments are not allowed beyond perhaps making a change in language to make the dialogue acceptable to an audience (e.g. removing cuss words)
Barbara noted that efforts to recruit a 2025 production team are also underway, including multiple dramatic directors, technical director, set designer, costume designer, and stage/props manager. Anyone interested in joining the production team should contact Barbara.
BY-LAWS RESTATEMENT:
The COA said in March that we must re-state bylaws to be consistent with all clubs. We restructured the wording of our bylaws and submitted it to the COA for approval of the original wording. Some of the changes that were instituted were the definition of what is a quorum, a definition of the duties of the officers, and structure around honorariums and gifts. There had previously been a vote using Constant Contact which included the extra language in a separate sheet. It was also clarified that we have to have an odd number of Board members – a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7. It was also clarified that we have 4 officers and 3 additional Board members. All the duties of the 4 officers contain some functions that are delegated today, such as posters and new articles given to the Publicity Board member.
Chuck Tebelius advised the membership he was voting “NO” because of a few factors: he disagreed with the reduction of a quorum to 25% (which is the COA standard) instead of the 40% we currently have. He felt it might concentrate too much power in too few hands. He disagreed with using Constant Contact as a venue to collect votes as he viewed it as a non-secure system and he disagreed with having the liability waiver requirement.
Marc offered the membership the opportunity to change their vote if they disagreed with any of the changes or to vote initially if they missed the Constant Contact push. No one opted to change their vote. The electronic vote tabulation (Constant Contact) results were 78 votes out of which 77 voted “YES” and 1 voted “NO.” Adding Chuck’s NO vote to the result there were then only 2 votes for NO.
Marc explained that this result would be shared with the COA who still must approve the restated bylaws including the additional Notes sheet. If they approve it the bylaws still must clear the Documents Committee. If there is any rejection of the bylaws as we are sending them, it means we will have to go back to square one and re-do everything again for the next cycle.
Marc called for a motion to approve the bylaws as presented. A motion to accept was made by Teresa Larson and seconded by Cathy Gueci. The motion was carried with 1 opposed.
BUSINESS:
- Hale’s 2025 Season—Carrie Mercer is currently chairing the Hale contact position. Since so many of our Theatre Club members are also Fun Savors members, she will be coordinating our Hale play choices with Fun Savors to ensure we don’t overlap. Marc also said if any members have any ideas for an outside event, please make that information known to the Board so we can begin planning for it.
- Actors' Workshop will follow this meeting, reading “The Power of No.” In these workshops we do readings – no memorization – from a book of monologues and gently critique delivery. It is a fun learning experience. Everyone is invited to join in and can also choose to just listen.
- Utah trip, July 15-19-- Bonnie West said all the information is out on MyTPR and there is a wait list. Currently, all 33 people who are going have paid up and are good to go. No decision has been made yet on whether there will be a pre-trip get together. Information will be sent out if that decision is made.
- Fall Event, October 26—Barbara shared the poster that will be included in the CA Lifestyle weekly activity push. This event feature two comedians, sweet and savory finger food with coffee table service. More than 10 members have already signed up to help. Mary Gates will be chairing the event and serving as its MC. The price for the tickets will be $14.00, aa bargain compared with the COA event priced at $10 in which there will be one comedian and no food. This event is intended to generate publicity for the Theatre Club in hopes of attracting new members for our club. It is not intended to be a fundraising event as it has been in the past. Tickets will be available via Purple Pass since this event is open to the Trilogy community. The question was raised as to how you can get a food handler’s license and Lynne Fabulich said she would send out the information to the membership.
- Holiday event, December 19—A Holiday Event will take place in the Ballroom. The event will be free to all Theatre Club members. Barbara is organizing a commit to plan event details and they will begin to meet after the September general meeting.
We are looking for ideas and hosts for other outside events, including possible travel destinations. A guideline for hosts will be created soon.
TRILOGY HAPPENINGS, OTHER CLUBS, etc.:
Barbara will be presenting “Secrets of the Brain” as part of the CA’s Time to Discover series and you can sign up via Purple Pass. The event is free.
Our next meeting will be September 14 at 9 AM – target location is the ballroom, but information will be provided via Constant Contact if there is a change in venue.
Lucky winner of the raffle—Curt Thompson (May door prize donated by Teresa Larson)
A motion to adjourn was made by JoAnn Derbenti, seconded by Sandy Tebelius, and the meeting adjourned at 9:55 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Gates for Joyce A Johnson, Secretary