The first meeting for 2018 received a good report on the use of the Little Theatre by Parkes Shire Council for various Elvis Festival events.
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The Society provided sound and lighting support while council organised the show support and ticket sales.
The committee were to discuss the ticketing arrangement at a later date, whether it would be preferable to have a two tier system with or without the ticket selling.
Neil reported the refurbishment DA had been done and tenders called. Also the foyer was mentioned as being cluttered with the photos which could be digitised and shown on a big screen.
Once again Parkes has been asked to provide entertainment at the CAT Awards with Angie, Brittni and Erin from '9 to 5' doing a segment. Bravo for a great performance. Also congratulations from the Society.
Rehearsals for 'Motherhood The Musical' have started and Lyn and Neil are putting together the music that will be featured in the gala concert 'Goosebumps' - these will be the two shows for 2018.
The AGM was held in March with Lyn reelected as president, James Whalan vice president, Gail Smith treasurer and Lisa Ramsay secretary.
Fees remained the same at $40 per family, $20 adults and $10 for juniors.
Due to member queries regarding the constitution, Warwick and Lyn were asked to review it and bring any recommendations back to a later meeting.
As the two shows progressed, attention turned to the refurbishment.
In the foyer, photos were removed to be recorded and shown on a large screen, access to the theatre from the foyer to be enlarged and LED lighting to be recessed into the foyer floor.
The theatre capacity would end up at 174 seats with larger seats at the front to fill vacant wheelchair spaces and the back two rows discounted because of poorer visibility.
In May 'Motherhood The Musical' opened for a season of nine shows, while it was not a sell-out, the audiences were enthusiastic and complimentary.
This production was directed and performed by the Amitie singers plus one.
The cast consisted of Christie Green as Barb, the stay-at-home mum with five offspring; Shevaun Brown as Brooke, a sophisticated and highly strung lawyer with two children; Christa Radley as Tasha, a soccer mum recently divorced mother-of-three; and Kimberley Harris as Amy, pregnant with her first child, yet to face the challenge of motherhood.
These four talented cast members tell their story with 20 musical brackets backed by recorded music.
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Greg and Hayley Ballantyne supervised sound, while lights were organised by Dave Macrae and backstage Eileen Bradley worked with Brian and Russell on set construction.
The Society is very fortunate that Amitie have made themselves available to promote and assist members in progressing the theatre.
As is the custom in June, the coming year's shows are discussed.
Lisa and James propose to put on 'Anne of Green Gables' in the first part of 2019, while Lyn and Neil consider doing 'Les Miserables' in October, which was last performed by the Society at the Parkes Leagues Club in 2004.
August saw the renovations progressing well with the floor down and carpet soon-to-be laid with the chair providers to install the new seats after that.
While the theatre was in upheaval with the interior building program, Lyn and Neil, in conjunction with Society members, were working towards our gala concert 'Goosebumps' - a celebration of M&D show highlights from 2000 to 2018 for the official opening of the Little Theatre renovation.
After many hours of discussion, director Lyn worked out a program with 13 items in the first act and 12 in the second.
Each of these then had to be cast from the members wanting to be involved, some having played the part previously.
Meanwhile Neil as musical director put together the band for all the music required - this took hours of rehearsal away from the theatre. Our many thanks to the Uniting Church for the use of their hall.
'Goosebumps' was a mammoth production requiring 63 members being involved in all aspects - Lisa Ramsay on lighting, Neil Naveau and Darren Mann with sound, old stalwarts Brian, Russell and Ray Brown handling everything behind stage and choreography in the hands of Gracie Townsend, assisted by Gracey Jones.
Finally Lyn had been working for ages to provide the costumes needed for the 50-odd cast.
On a personal note, I had intended 'Goosebumps' to be my swan song on the stage but found age had caught up with me after 67 years with the Society since it was reformed in 1951.
'Goosebumps' was a great success celebrating the theatre rebuild in 2000 to 2018 when the interior received the upgrade with tiered, comfortable seating and recarpeted foyer.
The Society acknowledges the continued support from the council over many years and of course our viewing public.
It was pleasing to know the complete upgrade worked well with only a few small problems, such as the seating in the back rows and the recording of sound, both of which are being modified for improvement.
With the shows out of the way, the following matters were discussed: the evacuation plan, health and safety register, digitising the photo gallery, the ticketing machine and finishing the green room.
It was decided it may take a few months to iron out the various problems and have the theatre running smoothly again.
Our final meeting in December was followed by Christmas dinner at the Railway Hotel.
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