Leamington and Warwick Dramatic Study Club
Management Committee

Minutes of meeting held Saturday 26 September 2009
at 10:00am at the Loft Theatre

Present: Michael Rayns (chair), Gary Atkinson, Elspeth Dales, Martin Eggleston, Janet Goldson, Sue Hamilton, Lynda Le Long, Gus MacDonald, Harry Sanders, Sue Wilkinson.

1. Apologies: Chris Foyer, James Wolstenholme

2. Minutes of previous meeting: Minutes of meeting of 20 July 2009 were agreed and signed.

3. Matters and actions arising from minutes:

   1. Boiler: Michael Rayns confirmed the boiler has been serviced; the thermostat/programme interface will be correctly re-installed shortly.
   2. Online Ticket Sales: item 5 refers.
   3. Hearing Loop: Gary Atkinson requests that the next time a member of the audience has a problem he intervenes in order to help diagnose the problem.
   4. Trustee indemnity: Harry Sanders has reversed the previous decision not to renew this insurance, on legal advice.

4. Spencer Yard:

   1. Update: Project is stalled by a) planning objections from Leamington Town Council and Leamington Society and b) potential increases in demolition costs. We cannot make progress on any front until AWM funding is confirmed,following resolution of a) and b).
   2. Operating in a new environment: Michael Rayns impressed on the Committee the importance of adopting a ‘tabula rasa’ approach to determining how we will conduct the business and artistic aspects of our work. A committee for the move/get in will be constituted once dates have been firmed up. Sue Hamilton expressed concern about the positioning of the bar in the new theatre.

5. Ticketing:

   1. SWT: Harry Sanders and Michael Rayns reported on a meeting with South Warwickshire Tourism to discuss commission rates on ticket sales. The arrangement remains under review.
   2. Online ticketing: The first phase (back-office reservation function) is nearly ready for trial. The full online ticketing facility is scheduled Spring 2010. The committee agreed to the purchase by the treasurer of Apple Mac equipment for the box office. Harry Sanders.

6. Children in Performance: The committee discussed the current and proposed vetting and barring/chaperoning requirements were already onerous and bureaucratic and were likely soon to become impossible and costly. With regret therefore it was resolved we will not programme plays which require children and keep the Loft Youth Theatre largely separate from the main work of the Theatre. Michael Rayns will write to the sitting MP and the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates for the other two main parties informing them of this decision and inviting them to respond in a personal capacity. The Artistic Director confirmed that he didn’t feel this would result in any significant artistic compromise, but joined the committee in their regret that young people would have fewer opportunities to perform at the Loft.

7. Rewarding volunteers: Following significant discussion around people’s reasons for volunteering, the meeting agreed to reverse its earlier decision and to remove all automatic entitlements to complimentary tickets for volunteers. Anyone who has volunteered (or pledged to volunteer) in any capacity during the current season will be welcome to attend the Tuesday Dress rehearsal for all main house productions. Front of House volunteers will continue to be encouraged to work both one Main role and one Assistant role for each run, thus giving them the opportunity to see the show. Studio productions also need Front-of-House volunteers, who will be able to observe the production without paying.

8. Plastic glasses: Given the lack of an interval in The Weir the committee agreed to trial plastic glasses for patrons to take their drinks into the auditorium, as is current practice at many professional and amateur theatres.

9. AD’s report:

   1. Artistic Management subcommittee The Committee joined Gus MacDonald in thanking Sue and Sophie Hamilton for their work, and thanked Elspeth Dales for taking over the administration.
   2. New Writing Competition Following the reading and assessment of over 300 entries, a shortlist will be circulated soon, and then a final shortlist sent to Andrew Davies. The AD is very pleased with the standard of several of the scripts, which may well result in more than just one studio production.
   3. Pecuniary prudence The committee was reminded of our financial responsibilities and our need to continue to make savings on productions wherever possible.
   4. The rest of the season The committee approved the final four main house productions for 09/10 season: Hay Fever, Into the Woods, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Noises Off.

10. Other reports: Pricing: Michael Rayns confirmed that the price of coffee will rise to £1.20. The committee was reminded that our prices overall (tickets and ancillaries) were not high when compared with other LTG theatres nationally but looked high when compared to others in our area. A radical overhaul of all prices will be put in train for season 2010/11

11. Any other business: Martin Eggleston raised the issue of Peter McGarry’s independent reviews on the Loft website and their presentation. It was agreed that steps would be taken to clarify the independent status of the opinion.

12. Date of next meeting: To be agreed by correspondence.

Other minutes available

• 10:00am, 19 June 2010
• 10:00am, 22 May 2010
• 10:00am, 6 February 2010
• 9:30am, 28 November 2009
• 7:30pm, 20 July 2009
• 10:00am, 2 May 2009

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