Dexter Drama Club Booster Meeting
Minutes 6-13-2017
Reports
A - Gala and Lock In Feedback
●Lock-in - Erin said lock-in had 83 students - most ever. Hard to get adults who want to spend the night. Karaoke mock-rock band was fun for kids, according to Kaitlin H.
●Gala- Feedback from Marti was that it seemed smooth and on-target. Maybe next year individual kids could step forward and wave so that audience can identify who is who. Erin noted that there were no vocal awards this year (Josh B. gave those out last year). Sam suggested that maybe there could be a limit on nominations for awards voted on by kids so that similar kids are not getting nominated over and over; she heard feedback from kids that it felt like there were a lot of repeat winners. Erin will consider this. Feedback from Jodi was that she surprised at how few parents were there, and she heard comments pertaining to the length. Erin welcomed suggestions. Ruthann suggested that perhaps the officer list be posted more like a cast list - this could limit the number of kids who leave the gala disappointed. Angie offered that the senior slideshow was a nice way to give people a break, but Erin said that it adds 15 minutes. It was suggested that the Thespian awards be held at a different time. Erin said the original purpose of including these awards in the gala was to publicize the Thespian Society, but now it’s very large and growing. Ruthann suggested that folks actually start eating at 6:00 (started late this time), and we begin at the gala at 6:15. Erin said that this timing has evolved because of the kids’ love for a slideshow, combined with adults needing to trickle in after work. Suggestion made to move food into cafeteria to make for a better flow.
B - Save the Date Changes (Erin) - Last day of spring break is Easter Sunday, so there won’t be rehearsal on that date. This was an oversight. We will ask Jennifer Colby to send that info out to all. Please let Erin know if you notice any other issues with the schedule. Randy noted that NYC trip and Ireland choir trip are on subsequent weeks. Erin said school will be ok with kids’ absences. Due dates for NYC payments are still the same. Dear Evan Hansen will be a play they see on that trip. Also, hotel will move and be $30 less per room per night, which is significant.
C - Finances (Michael) - We ended the year with a profit. Michael is still tidying up some of the finances and will work to make some other subcategories to make the financials easier to read. Jodi asked for more specifics on DVD sales; this area of the budget is usually a “loss”, as we purchase DVDs to give to directors and others. Randy suggested that we get some reports that break out the full picture of the finances from start to finish. It may help to see the money coming in and the money going out. Erin said this is the first year we’ve seen the club’s money in “real time” and completely accounted for, and without significant delays, due to much of the money being previously accounted for by the school. Question was posed for possibility of setting aside some savings. Erin said that is the group’s goal - we will create a budget for moving forward. *We have paid for two show licenses for next year’s two musicals already, which was about $5000. (This will cause us to spend less during the next school year.)
D - Swag (Audrey) - Some swag was sold at the lock-in and gala, and there is pre-sale happening in the fall for the new “generic” drama club shirts - goal is to have these sold/delivered by homecoming. Audrey proposed idea of having swag sold through a local company, and families could then pick-up items or have them shipped. Jodi said that was successful for lacrosse this year. Sizing could be a challenge. However, maybe we could have the kids look and try-on before ordering. We would still have some inventory to sell at shows. Jodi and Audrey will talk further about this. Neil O’Brien is the owner of the store in town, and he may be willing to donate a percentage of sales back to the club.
E - Concessions (Sam) - We will have concessions to last us up to (or almost up to) the winter show. Concessions were in the positive for the year. It will now be possible to take food and drink into the CPA - Erin is working with Martin on this.
2017-2018
A - Shows and Improv Discussion (Erin) - Auditions for fall musical are the week before school. We will try to get the word out to make sure this is well-publicized for students. 3-D follows quickly after, then 3 weeks off before the winter show. There will be 3 weeks off after that before final show. No fall improv workshop, but there will be a spring workshop. Instead, Erin may be able to have a guest artist come in once/month. For varsity letter, kids can now do choir for a full year, since two improv workshops won’t be provided next year. Elizabeth Champion will be on board for all three shows next year (will assist with first two shows and direct the Shakespeare show).
B - Food Final Decision for Green Room? (Jodi) - We would be spending about ⅔ more on food if we added feeding kids on all of the show days, which would mean adding to production cost, or cutting in other areas. Michael mentioned that some expenses will be lower next year. The group will work out a budget and make a determination. Perhaps we could try it for the first show and then look at the budget impact.
C - Set Build Discussion for Fall (Randy) - Randy is looking at ideas for sets. He will meet with Jodi sometime in August.
Photography Options/Idea (Jodi) - tabled until the next meeting
Donations/Programs (Jodi) - We may try putting addressed envelopes inside programs to see if we could get some donations. Michael suggested we could also do a QR code which links to a Paypal account. Erin said Lion King may be a good pilot for this, since it will be an exceptionally large fall show.
Sponsorships for next year (Cathy/Cheryl B/Erica) - We need to get all of our donations set in the summer so that we can tackle them and ask them to pay in full (if at all possible) before fall show. Cheryl has packets for all of us. She said it is not as daunting a task as it seems. We wrote down who volunteered to cover which businesses. Swaps for theaters do work well - Ann Arbor Civic, DCP, Purple Rose. Erin will handle most of these.
Additional Meetings to Schedule -
Publicity (Jodi/Julie)
Volunteer/Contracts (Dorthy/Michael/Jodi)
Finance (Erin/Michael/Caitlynn/Jodi)
Web Site (Angie/Student PR Team - Elise, Isabella, Kaitlin)
Booster Meetings for 2017-2018 (Jodi)
6:30 start
Tuesday, July 11
Tuesday, August 8
Monday, September 11
Tuesday, October 10
Tuesday, November 14
Tuesday, December 12
Tuesday, January 9
Tuesday, February 13
Tuesday, March 13
Tuesday, April 10
Tuesday, May 15
Tuesday, June 12
Next Meeting - Tuesday, July 11th, 6:30pm Dexter District Library