March 11, 2020

Board members present: Michael Hirsch, Jay Steele, Steve Sammonds, Steve Allhoff, Jordan Selburn,  Barbara Heninger, Dallas Carter, Kimberly Kay, Jennifer Petersen, Jen Maggio, Kevin Brownstein

Ex officio: Sara Dean (Executive Director), Doug Hughes (Marketing Director)

Note that all dates and timelines recorded here have been superseded by subsequent COVID-19 events.

Contents

Actions

Action for Doug: Continue working on brochure, leave all detail about pricing out of it.

Action for Sara: Follow up with Lighting, Sound, and Box Office managers to see if they prefer the ‘after King & I’ strategy. Then check with City of Saratoga.

Action: Jennifer P/Diversity Committee provide Jordan with an estimated budget for a grant, for holding the community outreach meetings.

Action: Committee chairs gather and send input about their committee status at the end of each month.

Action: Board members should consider community members who might be helpful to join the Board, and send names to Jay Steele.

Action: Doug will add to next newsletter that we will be looking for new Board members in July.

Motions

None.

Reports Sent Separately

Committee / Department Reports

Marketing

Working on season brochure, then solicitation letter that goes with it. Will take 2 weeks to print. Will need input on season ticket pricing for order form.

Action for Doug: Continue working on brochure, leave all detail about pricing out of it.

Season Planning

Rachel Michelberg can be Vocal and Music director for a 2-night concert event featuring compositions by women composers.

  • Single pianist for music
  • Male and female singers
  • Musical theater songs by female composers
  • Auditioned cast

Rather than holding it the normal 3rd weekend of spring show, which is Memorial Day weekend, suggest running it the weekend AFTER King & I.

Action for Sara: Follow up with Lighting, Sound, and Box Office managers to see if they prefer the ‘after King & I’ strategy. Then check with City of Saratoga.

CFO Report

Approximately $140K in the bank. Still not getting all information on a timely basis and somewhat slowly. Will follow up with Tammy Foley to confirm some numbers for She Loves Me.

Revised budget(s) due to AB5 in review.

Will switch to a new accounting system, Books Online, in July, at new fiscal year.

  • Will improve accuracy of postings
  • Will improve reimbursements

Facilities Report

See Jeffrey H’s email to the Board of March 9.

Rehearsal hall wall repainted.

Diversity and Inclusion Team

Diversity and Including team met May 3rd.

In June plan to put together hosting a community outreach event. Hope to hold bi-monthly events with other theaters, and maybe hand off leadership for different meetings to other companies. Purpose: Come up with best practices for community outreach.

Is there a possibility for a grant? Action: Jennifer P/Diversity Committee provide Jordan with an estimated budget for a grant, for holding the community outreach meetings

Membership Meeting

Propose Saturday, April 11 at 10am at the theater. “Morning brunch.” Topics to discuss:

  • AB5 actions
  • COVID-19 status
  • Input from membership

Committee Reporting

Suggest better tabs on committee activities, propose mid-month checkpoint for committees.

  • Chair of committee in charge of gathering input from the team, then providing to Board
  • Simple report of status and any roadblocks
  • “Mid-month” means end of calendar month

Action: Committee chairs gather and send input about their committee status at the end of each month.

COVID-19 and Show Cancellations

Should we plan to cancel South Pacific now? Downside right now of cancelling seems greater than waiting to see what happens.

  • Right now, plan to continue and re-evaluate as we learn more
  • Reassure members of staff and casts that we are watching and considering alternatives
  • Demographics of our audiences are more vulnerable. Do we limit individual sales right now?

Board Membership

We will have openings for four new members in July.

  • Denise Reynolds has resigned. Replace her in July.
  • Barbara and Jordan will ‘time out’ in July.
  • Jennifer P will retire in July.

A couple of possibilities: Jonathan White, who is assisting with marketing and websites. Kathy Switky, who has non-profit fund-raising expertise.

Another way to build Board membership is to invite community members to join committees. Examples: Dave Leon and Jenni Chapman are interested in assisting the Diversity Committee.

Action: Board members should consider community members who might be helpful to join the Board, and send names to Jay Steele.

Action: Doug will add to next newsletter that we will be looking for new Board members in July.

Executive Director’s Report

1940’s concert: More complex than anticipated. Increasing stipend for choreographer. $3,500 budget raised to $5,500 to cover increased staff payments.

South Pacific: Rehearsals start at end of March.

Joseph: Starting to discuss staffing.

AB5: Meeting with orchestra members to ask about their thoughts on compensation

Budget

  • Income and donations over the next year – concern about AB5 and about coronavirus contributing to recession
  • Gave Jen Maggio three different scenarios for budget/ For example, Joseph could be live or could be ‘canned’ music. Should we replace one orchestra per season with recorded music?

The King and I: Vinh Nguyen is on board for directing

She Loves Me Survey Feedback

High-level overview (not enough time to crunch all the numbers). General impressions:

  • Many newbies in this case. 9 were first-timers.
  • Felt rehearsals were efficiently run
  • Still receive feedback about the studio location
  • Higher marks about the theater from the cast than the orchestra
  • Most agree staff was organized, rehearsal period was okay
  • Overall: Most of cast said the production exceeded their expectations, exceptions for two who rated it low. Orchestra rating was more mixed.
  • Problems?
    • Some commented on staff availability
    • Ensemble had to sit a lot
    • Orchestra member suggested a ‘deep clean’ of the pit area at move-in
    • Need to set expectations about move-in, strike, because newbies don’t understand they must be involved with these.

 

Respectfully submitted by Barbara Heninger on March 18, 2020. Amended March 19, 2020, and posted.