ETC Board Meeting

The February ETC Board Meeting was last night, and I pitched the tech booth move, sound system upgrade, and lighting system upgrade. I also was ready to pitch the run extension at the High Street Theatre in Moorpark, but we ran out of time.

The board agreed on a painted version of the booth that would match the decor of Petit Playhouse. I estimated $500 for materials and $300 for an electrician to move the house dimmer to the new location and add an extra 20 amp circuit up stage right. The board also agreed to pay for up to $300 worth of new dimmer packs.

So that means that I'll begin buying the materials and constructing the booth around the same time I start building Sound of Music components, which will work out well. Ideally, we'll be ready for the electrician right around the end of March, about a week before Agnes of God tech weekend.

So, what's all of this to do with Godspell? As technical director for ETC, my brain is pulled in many different directions, but it allows me to tie things together and leverage resource better. I left three scenarios of budgets for the High Street Theatre extended run: one with average attendance of about 120 tickets per show; one with poor attendance of only 60 tickets per show; and a sell-out scenario where we sell all 250 seats for every show. Our break-even point on an average scenario (120 per show) is the first sunday. I think that's fairly doable, honestly, so long as our folks can get the publicity engine churning. We'll see what comes of it.

I also spoke with Heather Behrens regarding performing Godspell opening night out in the square. She said that it would be $1000 for set-up and labor, and I countered that we were not necessarily looking to make money off of it, but rather use it to promote the show and the Heritage Square Foundation. It would also serve to kick off the Summer Concerts in the Square series a week early. Ideally, they could earn some extra income by extending the season by a week. I also offered to handle lights and sound so they wouldn't have to. The almanac says that sunset will be at 8:03 PM with twilight at 8:31 PM, so I will have to light the stage for the second act, but that's no big deal. With a 6:00 PM curtain, intermission should be at around 7:15 PM, and the show should be done by 8:30 PM. Moonrise is at 6:28 PM, so by the second act, we should have a glorious 7/8 waxed moon shining down on us as well.

So, in the discussion with Heather, Tom Eubanks was listening in and commented that it sounded risky. My counter was that we usually have to paper the house on opening night anyway, so why not paper the courtyard instead? Godspell is going to be a VERY portable show, so the logistics are more important than the venue itself. Again, we'll see what comes of it.

And I promise more costume designs this weekend.

And I promise I'll start on the scenic stuff as well.


- Sean