Armidale Playhouse Prompt - August 2008

Your New Committee

At the Annual General Meeting on 4 August we elected a new (well slightly revamped committee. Diana Helmrich was re-elected as president, with Warren Bartik as vice president, Jody Brash as Secretary, Jim Harrop as Treasurer, Benjamin Thorn as Newsletter Editor and Gordon Cope and Jean Freer as Committee Members. Best of luck to all of them!

Frozen

The next playhouse production will be Frozen by Bryony Lavery. A chilling little psychodrama about sexual abuse and how our society and institutions don’t cope with. It is well worth seeing (though not really suitable for young children).

Director Gordon Cope has got a fantastic cast including Barbara Albury, Julie Collins and Brendan Pascoe (who last time they were on stage together in Death and the Maiden also had an abusive relationship – I don’t think they’re being typecast).

Performances will be in the Old Teacher’s College auditorium on Thursdays Fridays and Saturdays from 11 September till 27 September at 8pm with a matinee on Saturday 20 September at 4pm. Tickets $15 at the door.

Working Bees

The forces of entropy persist. In lay terms this means that even if you don’t do anything everything gets into a mess. We really need to sort out the playhouse again, partly so that we can work out a viable use for it. Therefore for the next few Sundays (starting from the 10 August we have working bees at the playhouse from 10am till 12 noon to battle against the descent into disorder.

Favourite Shorts

After two successful seasons of Favourite Shorts Kate Coward is stepping down as artistic director and a new committee to run the show will need to be elected. Diana Helmrich has agreed to be producer but cannot take on all the functions that Kate was doing.

There will be a meeting to sort things out on Monday 18 August at 7pm at 13 Robina Crescent. Current thought are to run the show in March next year so we will shortly be advertising for scripts and directors who are interested in participating.

Other coming shows

After Frozen the next show will probable be another Poetzinc collaboration directed by Benjamin Thorn. Next year after Favourite Shorts, Jim Harrop wants to direct Terry Pratchett's Weird Sisters and plans are already afoot for Sondheim’s Into the Woods in November, directed by Jean Freer. There is still scope for other productions so if you have any ideas bring them along to a meeting.

Membership Renewal

I recently sent out renewal notices to most of our members (if you didn’t receive one it means you’re probably still financial for a few months and will be reminded later). Thanks to all those who have renewed their membership, and if you haven’t got around to it yet we’d love to hear from you.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the committee to which everyone is welcome will be on Monday 1 September at the Playhouse at 7:30pm. Meetings are normally on the first Monday of each month.