USITT MIDWEST

MINUTES

JUNE 7, 2003 BOARD MEETING

Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee

 

 

Members Present:  Dave Krajec, Mick Alderson, Kate Wulle, RJ Mike Nielsen, Steve Jacobs, Kurt Ottinger, Linda Janosko, Ellen White, Marty Lazarus, Nancy Woodruff, Alan Stalmah, Kathleen Donnelly

Meeting called to order at 11:05am. 

Introduction of board members was first order of business. 

Ellen White motioned to approve the minutes of the March 18th meeting, Steve Jacobs seconded. Minutes approved by voice vote.

 

REPORTS

Treasurer:  Mike Nielsen handed out copies of the treasurer report to date. Official end of year report will be sent out after the fiscal year closes at the end of June.  Money has been paid out for Lion King tickets. $1000 has been put down to secure a commitment for a block of 50 tickets.

 

Membership:  Mick Alderson gave current membership count:

Students: 7

Founders and Founder Award winners: 8

Individuals: 76

Organizations: 23

Sustaining: 16 (6 of whom are Founders)

Total members: 131

 

DPR:  Kate Wulle said Spring DPR copy was sent to the Publisher on May 12th.  Copy deadline for Fall issue is September 1st.

 

Programming:  Nancy Woodruff gave an update on programs for next year.  She is pursuing the idea of finding national programs/workshops,offered at the conference and pre conference workshops that are available to bring into the regional sections. She is still pursuing this angle. The Fall Program date has been set for October 25th ,    with  the matinee performance of The Lion King in Chicago as the main event. She is still working on the morning program to coordinate with the matinee. She is trying to work with the theatre venue to give us a tour, but so far it does not looking promising.  Rockford College in Illinois is available in January for the winter program.  De Paul University in Chicago is another possibility for a future program.  No decisions have been made to date.

Attendance at the Spring program, a Tour of New Theatre Spaces in Chicago was 26, including one new member.

Mike Nielsen moves to approve the reports, Steve Jacobs seconded. Motion approved by voice vote.

 

OLD BUSINESS

Midwest Section Brochure:  Dave Krajec passed around a rough copy of the brochure for people to look at and offer comments. Dave asked for suggestions on the type of photos to be included with the brochure. If people have pictures that would like to be included in the brochure, such as production shots for member productions they should send them to Dave within the week. General discussion ensued on what kind of material should be included in the brochure.

Brochure is estimated to come out in the Fall. 2003.  Printing and paper stock considerations were discussed.  Dave is looking into four color process verses full color process.  General consensus is that the stock should be glossy.  Dave will handle the printing of the brochure. We need to decide on the initial quantity that we would like printed.  Dave will get prices based on 1000, 3000 and 5000 copies. The brochure will be general enough that it can be used to several years without revising. We will insert the brochure with a folded 8.5 x 11 paper with up to date membership information.

Season brochure is due to Mick Alderson August 15th, who will handle the printing and mailing of the membership notices with the season brochure.  The season brochure will be overprinted so that a wider mailing can be done with hopes of increasing membership.

 

Awards committee:  Mick Alderson gave summary of awards given out in the past year.

ACTF awards: Five cash awards were given out from the Midwest Section to the ACTF Region III design winners who went to the Kennedy Center in April.  The five awards were given out to:  Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design, Makeup Design and Sound Design. 

The Founders Award: information will be sent out with the membership mailing in the Fall.  Last year we did not have any of the college students, nominated for founders award, follow up with the required information.  Therefore we did not have any eligible students from this category for the award. The student awards instead were given out to two high school students.  Discussion centered on how to make the response process easier. E-mail information back was one of the suggestions made that could encourage a higher response rate.  Second issue is how to promote the founders award so that there is a larger pool of nominees. Mick said that the membership mailing includes the Founders Award information. Suggestion was made when the new regional brochure is ready, we could include the brochure, a letter from the chair and info on the Founders award when we mail it out.  Founders award is also listed on the web page. Mick will work on editing the information down. Discussion followed on submitting the form electronically for the award.  An increase in student chapters would probably increase the amount of applicants for the award too.

 

ACTF, ITA and other activities: 

Dave Krajec will contact the Ohio Valley Section of USITT to ask if they would like to contribute to the Design awards given to the ACTF winners. Since Ohio is part of the ACTF Region III section it seems reasonable that they should contribute to the award. Discussion followed about how to be more visible at ACTF. Suggestion was made that one of the board members should present the design awards at the banquet along with the Barbizon and Mehron awards. Dave will contact Michael Swanson is the new ACTF Region III chair to discuss this idea.

ITA will be held September 20 and 21st in Skokie, IL. Steve Jacobs will be attending ITA and will bring publicity information for Midwest Section with him.  The Illinois High School Theatre Festival will be held on Jan 15-17.  Marty Lazarus says Appollo Lighting will be donating the color gels needed for the productions at the conference.

Break for Lunch: 12:32pm

Resume Meeting: 12:53pm

 

NEW BUSINESS: Discussion/Brainstorming:

Programming:  Bugs are still being worked out on the process by which contacts are made to get national programming on the regional level. Nancy Woodruff has been in contact with several of the commissions on getting the information on these programs.

Programming Ideas for the future:

•           Indiana Repertory Theatre, possible program on underwear for costumes

•           Milwaukee Theatre opens in the Fall of 2003

•           First Space – children’s theatre space in Milwaukee, youth Arts Facility opens in 2004

•           Possibility of programs offered at ACTF.

•           April 17, 2004 – Madison; Jim Van Bergman workshop on wireless sound along with a tour of ETC new building.

•           Vendor Showcases - how to make them more successful.  Timing of event as well as invitations requiring RSVP may be helpful.

•           Lion King: October 25th:  16 tickets have sold out of 50 to date. Marty Lazarus suggested that the morning of event, Greg Becker might be able to get a session together on sound.

 

Tech Olympics:

 

Kurt Ottinger explained the possible changes in the Tech Olympic at the annual conference and stage expo. They are working on incorporating more problem solving type events. The reworking of guidelines for the national event will filter down to how Tech Olympics are run at the High School level. Discussion followed.

 

Steve Jacobs explained that at the Illinois HS Theatre Festival the organizers do not want winners in a competition against other people.  Suggestion was made that national standards are set for each event in three classes: gold, silver and bronze. This way the students can compete against a standard and get awarded a level of accomplishment.  Ellen White explained that at the Wisconsin HS Festival they push the competition aspect and award first, second and third place awards. Maybe level of accomplishment ribbons can be tried at the Wisconsin HS festival. Discussion followed.  Kate Wulle, Mike Nielsen, Nancy Woodruff, Ellen White as well as vendors from last year will be representative of Midwest Section at the Illinois HS Festival.

 

Web site:

Discussion on whether the DPR would be available on the web page to Member’s only. This would cut down on mailing costs. Some hard copy of DPR will be available for those that are not on the Web. Still working out how members can access this information.

 

DPR:

Discussion ensued on how to revamp the DPR. Suggestion was made to provide regular features that would appear each month.  Some of these featured areas could be:  Traveler section, Stupid tech tricks, History of Section, On the Lighter Side, Letters to the Editor. If we were on the web, we could track how many hits that it gets. September 1st is the deadline for the next issue. Advertiser copy is needed for Fall DPR. Kate Wulle will send out a letter to advertisers to get more ads for next year.

 

Announcements:

Al Koga passed away. Midwest Section will make a donation in his memory to appropriate organization.  Ellen White moved to approve; Steve Jacobs seconded it. Motion carries.

Next DPR will carry an obituary on Al.

 

Ticket orders for Lion King – get them into Nancy Woodruff.

 

Next Meeting will be held on September 6th at Valparaiso University, Alan Stalmah hosting. Meeting will start at 11:00am. 

 

Motion to adjourn. Marty Lazarus moved, Ellen White seconded. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned at 2:29pm.