updates

We updated our ticketing software system yesterday. It had been over a year since our last update. We have experienced difficulty in the past with updates doing strange things to our data. For instance the last time we updated it took everyone who was marked with a yes to receive our newsletter and changed them to a no. There are almost 6,000 people who receive a newsletter from the theatre! Yesterday seemed to go smoothly and we are excited with some of the new features that are now available to us. But experience has taught us to be very careful as we proceed with the new update. Alexis used to beg not to have to upgrade. I think it is like the new upgrades for Operating systems. Windows 98 used to crash all the time. They fixed it with Windows XP and then when we moved to Vista we had all sorts of problems. I'm gun shy on upgrading operating systems and this is similar to what we did with the ticketing system. We spend almost $3,000 a year on service and support for our ticketing system. The equipment and the system itself cost us $18,000 initially. I remember the days of pre-printed tickets and hand written charts. I still have to look back at those charts occasionally when I'm trying to gauge the old number of tickets sold for a show back in the early 90's. We have gone through 5 different ticketing systems since our first jump into computer ticketing. Getting reports and information out of the systems is so much easier but the draw back is that when our system is not working we are unable to sell anything.

April's about to finish up the first week of her two week camp Character Matters. Sylvia Steiner and Emily Hensel are both conducting classes in the afternoons. We are still in the process of doing maintenance and digging out. Each morning I walk into my office I think today I will dig this out and then I end up covered over with a project or problem and at the end of the day I walk out thinking I'll try to dig out tomorrow.

Cindy Miller has been rehearsing with the cast of Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming. I haven't been to any of the rehearsals yet as they are just working on the music. Next week I'll take a couple of the rehearsals while Cindy is out on vacation and see if I can teach a couple of the performers how to play my guitar and mandolin. It has been so many years since I played regularly that I'm very rusty but I still know the basics of how to play and chord structures and can usually help teach someone to play enough to get by. Fortunately about half of the cast already plays musical instruments so we are only trying to augment the sound with additional musical instruments. The last two shows we did of Smoke on the Mountain cast members learned how to play the string bass. Fortunately many of the songs were in a key that allowed the bass to play mostly open strings without having to worry about fretting the notes.

Debra Harned and I are going back and forth on the logo designs for the brochure for next season and work on the first program has already begun. A newsletter is in the very early stages and an annual report is in process to send to all of the members of the theatre. I hope to have the brochure ready to go to the printer by the end of this month.

The fund run is Saturday at Noble Park. If you participate don't forget to include MHT in your list of donors in your registration form!