Date : August 30, 2023
Board members present:
| X | Alex Night | X | Jered Biard |
| X | Brad Story | X | Robby Burt |
| X | Julie Ulmer | EXC | Ann Glenn |
| X | Bill Hays | X | Jessica Kropp |
| X | Linda G. Johnson | X | Robert Canterbury |
| X | Lamar Austin | EXC | Rudi Timmerman |
| X | Amanda Baker | X | Gini Burt |
Meeting called to order at 5:30 PM by President Alex Night
1. Secretary’s Report: The minutes from the previous meeting were sent out by email. Brad moved we accept as submitted. Bill seconded the motion and the minutes were approved.
2. Treasurer’s Report: Arvest (general fund) $2406.54
Union Bank (Building) $12,874.87
First Financial (concessions) $2067.38
Edward Jones Acct. (Investment) total value is $23,586.96 which includes the dividends of $1817.29.
· New people need to be added as signatories. Bill and Judy are still on the signature pages, but we need to add someone from the board to replace Scotty Jenkins. Brad suggested Alex and Jessica to be nominated as new additional signatories. Amanda made a motion that we accept this, Lamar seconds, motion passed. All signatories will need to go by the bank to sign the card. Bill will spearhead getting everyone informed of when they should go do this.
· Jessica made a motion that we get the cash dividend of $1817 out from the Edward Jones account and move it to the general fund to cover the bills coming up. Brad seconded the motion. There was some discussion about potential financial needs and whether or not we want to reinvest the dividends back into the fund or cash it out for immediate use. It was suggested that in the future we need to articulate a set goal for this account. After this discussion, the motion passed eleven aye, one nay.
· Bill, Jessica, and Lamar volunteered to go see Ginger Sterner to discuss the best use of the Edward Jones Account fund and will report back to the board next month with suggestions.
· Bill said he wrote a check for $750 for Jered to begin paying him back for his expenses he incurred for several different plays over the past year. Bill reminded us that we need to write another one for about the same amount as soon as we can to fully repay him. We also still owe Brad some money as well. Both Brad and Jered are being very patient, and the board appreciates them. We all agree we want to make an effort to pay them back.
· Bill also told us that Sterling Machinery verbally committed $400 for Christmas play and First Financial bank said they would give us $150.
3. Office Report—Alex –
· Alex said that we are receiving interest through phone calls and office visits from people wanting to see various shows. There have been 2 individual memberships with season tickets sold, as well as 1 patron, 2 family memberships with season tickets, 3 family season tickets, and 2 commercial memberships with $50 each donation attached this month.
· Leann McGee donated matted framed signed posters from old shows. She also donated some costumes. Alex asked for input on how to handle concerns that we receive so many costume donations. Without a designated OLT costumer, the problem is becoming too much for Alex to handle alone. Linda has offered to help Sharon go through any donated costumes to sort them out into things we can actually use and those that need to be donated to PCDC. Brad offered to transport costumes we won’t be using after Linda and Sharon are through. Alex will let them know they are there to go through them.
· Alex has mailed all non-commercial memberships and is now working on phone calls for all expired commercial memberships.
· Love Productions School Swap, a British company, is sending 6-8 teens to come to Mena for 4 weeks. They want to do some filming at OLT during October. They could probably film a rehearsal, but not our show. We will not have any editing rights. After discussion, we were not convinced this was something we want to be part of, but Alex will visit with Celeste Ashcraft to get more details and update us at the next board meeting.
· Survey results from Fantasticks showed some surprising results. See Alex’s report for details.
· Alex is gathering a list of nominations for next year’s Bensons, and already gathering a photo of nominees. We will discuss Bensons next meeting in the interest of time.
4. Artistic Director Report—Judy – was unavailable for report.
5. House—Brad
· Brad is working on the marquee to keep water out of office.
· He is working on projects with Robert and Robby, including the shed.
· Brad is talking to Alvins’ about the heat check up in the next few weeks. He will also examine the air conditioner in the lobby which is not working.
6. Play Selection—Lamar
· See play selection committee report August 22, 2023
· There was some discussion on whether or not it may be a mistake to produce The Little Mermaid in the summer due to summer vacations and traditionally low attendance for summer musicals. It was pointed out that summer musicals typically have been smaller shows in more recent years. No action was taken.
· Since it was recommended that Jocelyn Biard choose another play than “The Play That Goes Wrong” as described in the Play Selection Committee Report, we are giving her time to decide if there is something else she would like to do. We encouraged her to choose a full-length comedy, directing students in her own age group (not necessarily younger children.) This would be the first play to serve as a part of the regular season but also double as a JOLT production. We are waiting for her response before we slate the February play.
· Amanda is coming up with a plan to present to the board for the Christmas play at the next board meeting. Hopefully we can make a final decision on our full slate of plays for 2024.
· It may be necessary for the play selection committee to meet again quickly once we have some input from Amanda and Jocelyn.
7. IT Report—Jered -postponed due to time constraint
8. Box office—Amanda -postponed due to time constraint
9. Publicity—Julie –
· The Mena Star gave us a front-page article announcing the cast of Clue, but for some reason, the Pulse did not publish it this week. Julie will follow up on that. We are up to date on Chamber of Commerce publicity and social media for current Clue information.
· As she will be unavailable, Julie asked for a volunteer to attend the Eclipse Town Hall meeting on September 14th, 3 PM at the Ouachita Center on the UA Rich Mountain campus. Brad volunteered to attend. We need to let the Eclipse people know we are planning on producing Romeo and Juliet during the eclipse weekend to give our out-of-town guests a chance to see a local theatre production. We would like to be included in any scheduling information they will have for out-of-town and local folks.
· Please be advised that Julie will be out of town and unavailable from Sept. 14th through the 22nd. Please have any publicity needs to her well before she leaves. Other items will have to wait until I get back. Direct any Instagram needs to Alex and Facebook to Rudi.
10. Readers Theatre – Ann – unavailable
11. Old Business – none
12. New Business –
· We briefly discussed a ticket price increase. As the meeting was running long, it was decided that we will discuss this later.
· Ticket prices for Clue will remain as the constitution states, $12 for Adults and $8 for Seniors and students. It will need to be changed on the website, as it currently states $10 for all tickets.
13. Adjournment
Motion to adjourn was made by Julie and seconded by Robert;
The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.