Minutes of the June 2005 Booster Meeting

Minutes from General Meeting of WTW Drama Boosters
Wednesday, June 15, 7:30 p.m.

In attendance were:

Theatre Arts Director Terri Hobson

The five nominees for the 2005-06 Board, who were
elected by quorum:

President Carole Fredrickson

Vice President Margaret Chen

Treasurer/Web master John Fredrickson

Secretary Terry Byrne

Member-at-Large Cathie Grant-Goodman

Plus three interested parents, and three ITS officers
(students):

President Kayla Nelson

Vice President Andrea Fullerton

Treasurer Miki Byrne

The assembly efficiently took care of unanimously
electing the Board, 12-0, with four families voting by
proxy online. After President Carole Fredrickson
detailed our need for volunteers, the three remaining
parents present stepped up to assume chairmanships of
committees for the 2005-06 season:

--Debbie Sollosi will serve as ITS adviser

--Artie Negrin will oversee parent chaperones during
rehearsals

--Diane Stalker will most likely serve as Publicity
Officer (she was interested in several posts and will
take some time over the summer to firm up herdecision)

--Also, in absentia, Debra Willen and Larry Fullerton
offered to head up concessions.

The next order of business was hearing from Director
Terri Hobson in an informal Q&A format, followed by a
Q&A with the ITS officers. Highlights:

--The fall musical has not yet been chosen, but when
Choral Director Michael Ehrlich and Ms. Hobson reach
a decision -- no later than July -- the news will
be posted jointly on the organizations' Web sites:
wtwdrama.org and 1. www.woodsonchorus.org.

--The Board is investigating, via talks with the
administration, the appointment of an intern for Ms.
Hobson, to help with in-class administrative duties
and logistical aspects of producing shows, so she can
focus more on the creative aspects.

--Renovation of the auditorium won't begin until 2008,
and it's unlikely the county would approve any funding
to correct the speaker placement problem above the
stage (Ms. Hobson pointed out how the clustered
speakers point toward the floor -- this is in large
part to blame for the poor acoustics and the
difficulty in hearing performers' lines even though
they are mic'd). We tossed around ideas to fund-raise
and get a subcontractor to correct the problem as a
stop-gap measure until renovation.

--Fund-raising ideas (for both Boosters and ITS)
include an interactive show, a la "The Sound of
Music," in which the audience is given props and cues
to act out. Also, a Battle of the Bands (for ITS).
These two exciting activities alone could become WTW
institutions, serving as the equivalent of the Drama
Dept.'s "Tag Day." Better than soliciting door-to-door
-- we like to entertain! Other ideas would be to take
over Woodson Idol, which fell by the wayside this past
year (Terry Byrne, who has helped produce the show in
the past, reports that Darah Bonham might be open to
having this event adopted by another organization); athespian-run Scooby-Doo haunted house; raffling off
gift baskets donated by Trader Joe's.

--Among Ms. Hobson's goals for the upcoming year is to
stage more student-directed one-acts, as a way to
increase the number of productions in the season and
give more students more and richer opportunities. In
particular, a "newbie show" was discussed for the
winter, in which only those students who have never
been in a show are allowed to audition.

--There was much discussion about back-to-school
packets, Booster-welcome packets, guidelines to ITS
merit points and student show contracts, all of which
will be reviewed and developed over the summer. By
fall, all our paperwork will be in order, and whatever
gets documented will be mirrored on the Web site. An
attempt to entice rising 9th-graders and their parents
to join Drama will be made. For starters, Terry Byrne
has updated the Booster form and will deliver some to
Frost's Mr. A, and also try to get a list of kids
already interested in continuing drama studies in high
school.

--We will look at developing an enrichment program,
asking experts in performing arts from the community
to hold masters sessions for the kids over the course
of the year -- such as stage combat, set design,
how to memorize lines, audition tips, improv & comedy,
etc.

--Treasurer John Fredrickson gave a detailed report of
the budget (attached or hyperlinked here). It was
noted that our biggest line item is food, and
that we generally spend what we earn.

--An appeal went out for more pictures from past
productions and info to post to the Web site.