February wrap up

The week began and ended with planning and meetings. The strategic planning retreat which was last Saturday led to a week of getting information and working on details as well as preparing for shows.

Boy in the Girl's Bathroom rehearsals are proceeding along slowly. The young cast is working hard to move through the process of being off-book. For those who don't know that is the process of taking the scripts out of the actors hands and their having to do the scenes memorized. The adults are doing well but a few of the younger actors are struggling a little. This weekend will be time spent by all of the actors going over and over their lines so that when we start the final week of rehearsals before opening they are solid with their lines.

April and I continue to work on refining the design for the set. I've moved through several design ideas going from large puzzle pieces to lined paper on the walls. We have settled for a style similar to the drawings in the book Diary of a Wimpy Kid. There are a couple of key images in the show that we will try to incorporate into the drawings on the walls of the set. In addition since we want the comedy and to really show through we will be using a variety of bright colors for the wall backgrounds.

Tuesday the Cinderella Cast met for the first time to get their schedules and their scripts and music. The theatre paid for AccompanEase which is a computer software that all cast members can use to rehearse their music. AccompanEase works with Rodgers and Hammerstein and has many of their titles on it. Cast members download the software onto their computers and then they can play back all the songs from the show and hear only their parts or only the orchestra or any variation. Songs can be slowed down, speeded up, or even changed keys. Bonnie Daniels the director of the show can use the software to choreograph and rehearse the dance numbers. The sound for the AccompanEase is simple midi generated music not suitable for performances. This is simply a rehearsal tool.

Wednesday was the board of directors meeting where we finalized several items that we had been studying. One of those was ticket prices for next year. We raised ticket prices for Season Ticket holders by $1 per show. Regular season tickets went from $80 for the entire season to $85. Senior season tickets went from $70 for the entire season to $75. We expanded what used to be the child ages 12 and under ticket to a student ticket ages 21 and under. The student ticket will cost the same as the Senior Season ticket at $75.

In addition the board voted to change single ticket prices. The new prices will reflect a two tier structure. We dropped the single ticket prices for the Saturday matinee from $19 to $15 for all ticket buyers. All other performances will now have a $18 single ticket price. Students ages 21 and under will be able to buy tickets at $15 for all non musical performances along with groups of 10 or more ticket buyers. Musical tickets will be $20 for all performances except the Saturday matinee which will be $16 for all seats. Students and groups will be able to buy $16 tickets to the musicals. The theatre has struggle with consistently rising expenses for lumber,fabric, and production materials to build the sets, costumes and props. The board felt strongly that we remain an incredible value compared to other performing arts ticket prices in Paducah. Plans were also finalized for the Curtain Call auction on March 19. Invitations were addressed and were to hit the mail this weekend.

Thursday the Wedding Belles cast had its first rehearsal. We had a great time reading through the script and all of the actresses are spending the weekend looking up the pronunciation for over 20 different kinds of flowers mentioned in the script. We start staging Wedding Belles in the classroom rehearsal space Monday night after I get through with the Boy in the Girl's Bathroom rehearsal on the Mainstage.

Friday saw meetings with a financial group from the Strategic planning session. We went over information from the American Association of Community theatres and the Theatre Communications Group comparing all aspects of MHT's financial operations with other theatres across the country. We compared budgets, marketing expenses, ticket sales both prices and number of seats sold as well as number of productions and performances, fundraiser expenses and contributed income as a percentage of total income from various sources, salaries, number of employees, utility and maintenance costs and a lot more. The group spent two hours pouring over about 60 pages of comparison information. These comparisons and work by this group will begin the budget process for the theatre for 2010/2011 season which begins in 4 months!

Friday afternoon was spent in meetings with arts and city representatives to brainstorm and decide on a grant application for a project from the National Mayors Initiative Forum and the National Endowment for the Arts. A consensus was reached on an idea for a grant proposal and it is now up to a couple of people from the arts and the city to put together a proposal for city commission review Tuesday and a 3 page proposal to be sent to the NEA by March 15.

March is starting off with the theatre working as hard as ever. We are having a very good year hitting all of our income and expense goals so far. We hope that trend continues through the last four months.