ITS Meeting Minutes 8-26-2008

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 2:53PM in the Lewis Central High School Drama Room.

ROLL CALL

Members In Attendance: Nate Black, Tyler Butler, Whitney Clark, Billy Coon, Camilla Courtney, Molly Cox, Blake DeForest, Brooke Elliff, Shannon Gascoigne, Andrew Gulden, Mark Hamilton, Olivia Handy, Taylor Hughes, Hannah Jacoby, Katie Jacoby, Jarren Jenkins, Liz Knoble, Jenna Ladd, Nicole McGuire, Becca McMillen, Tayler Mehsling, David Mescher, Kelsey Moore, Jordan Morgan, Jami Mundt, Jessica Nightser, Maddie Overholtzer, Ryan Penney, Lauren Petri, Sarah Piercy, Alysha Rau, Ben Rausch, Megan Reif, Cole Schnitker, Rachel Shrader, Chloe Smith, Alaina Walker, Kyle Wineland, Matt Wolf, Courtney Zucca

Excused Absence: Austin Blay, Pat Gillespie, Alexix Grgrich, Danny Lich, Matt Sharp

Unexcused Absence: Eric Clark, Jared Juel, Alex Mares, Sarah Marshall, Jerrod Scheffel, Mikael Scheffel

PROJECTS

We are going to focus on fewer projects this year and actually get them done excellently.

Nebraska Theatre Caravan: McG informed us that LC will host the Nebraska Theatre Caravan, a professional Actor's Equity repertory company on September 30, 2008. They will be bringing a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream to be performed outside in the space that was initially set aside for the LCHS auditorium.

20 lucky ITS members will be chosen to attend workshops at IWCC that will be lead by the company.

ITS is thankful to Mr. Hale for helping make this a reality for us a Lewis Central. This package would normally cost several thousand dollars and our student body will be receiving it free of charge. We are extremely excited about this opportunity.

Display Case: It was decided that we are actually going to use the drama display case this year. Many cool ideas are being put together. For example curtains, mega pictures, ‘LC DRAMA’ in wood letters, plastic columns, masks, and tv screens.

We need to put together a great team that can get this project on the road. We want to show the rest of the school how amazing the drama department really is. If you would like to help with the display case, keep your ears open as a meeting will be scheduled soon.

SPRING MUSICAL

An idea came about that we start sparingly in January so that it will be less chaotic. The production team would get a plan in order, the calendar written, and the Bible set up. With the choir directors the music will be learned, the auditions will happen, and the cast will be determined.

*WINTER ACTIVITIES* We need to make sure that students invovled in Winter Activities don’t feel like we are trying to keep them out. We want them and they need to know that. Members responded favorably to this idea.

Having a choreographer come in is trying to be arranged. So that the dancers are having fun and looking great! This would also allow McG to leave so he can help the production team.

We want the approval letter sent for the spring musical a lot sooner this year so that we can get started! We need another team of ITS members to start sampling musicals. Anyone can do this and we encourage you to find some musicals so that we have a wide selection. If you have any ideas already, let your ITS Senior-President Ben Rausch, your ITS Junior-President Courtney Zucca, or McG know.

So go online…..with some friends…..or by yourself…..find ideas…..but don’t get attached. Ready? Go!

PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT CALENDAR

Something that is going to change for this year is that the students are not going to be the messengers for teachers, directors, or coaches. If they have something to say to McG, or McG has something to say to them, make sure that you don’t do it for them.

The directors will be meeting on every Wednesday early out to review the master Performing Arts Calendar and "hammer out"

FALL PLAY SELECTION

Many people agreed that since we have done a comedy for the past five years, that we should try something new and show the community that the LCHS drama department can take on something new. Others expressed how they still want a comedy because we have many funny people in our department and that we should show off their talents.

Other genres were thought up. Melodrama, Horror/Thriller/Mystery, Drama. Also the idea of having a dinner theater came up.
Thoughts on having a Melodrama: It would be something that has a hero and villain. The actors would get to interact with the audience. It would be very easy for us to do. The technical requirements are very low, but the costumes are very elaborate. Students show interest.

Thoughts on having a Horror/Thriller: The technical requirements for this genre would be quite high. But of course our drama students could handle it. We want to keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Since it will be around the holiday of Halloween, members thought that we could attract more audience members. And with the arrival of our new light board (Yes, you may scream at this exciting news), we could get some really cool scenes in. This would allow a lot of opportunities. But other students think that the audience won’t want to be scared the whole time and that we would lose audience members. Either way, we still had interest shown.

Thoughts on Dinner Theatre: This would not be in the auditorium. The audience would eat while watching us perform. Some thought this could be a great learning experience. Since everyone likes to eat, it might be fun. It was asked if we could do a thriller and the dinner theatre. But we would want all the special effects that the auditorium could give us. Audience Participation, Melodrama, and a Romantic Comedy could work for dinner theatre. A disclaimer arose though. Since we would be serving food, the cost would go up. We want as many people to come as possible and this may cause a problem.

After a vote, dinner theatre was ruled out.

Genre Decision: Everyone had one vote to select the genre for this year’s fall play.
The count came to Melodrama: 14. Thriller/Horror/Mystery:18.

Some other important decisions had to be made. Cast size and set size.

Thoughts a small cast: It would turn out really well, for they would have a lot of time to work with McG. But it wouldn’t give anyone experience who isn’t part of the cast.

Thoughts on a large cast: It would give a lot of people experience. But it might not have as great as quality as a small cast. It also might confuse the audience members with so many characters.

The decision: A small-medium cast size. This means from about 8-14. Based on that decision, we decided to have a large set.

Auditions are going to be held in two weeks!

If you don’t like the results, get over it. You can’t change it. So turn your harsh energy into helpful energy. Think of ways that your talents can be used to help make this an amazing year!

Lead by example!

Groups will be sent to the 9th grade Leadership Classes to try and recruit freshman. We will talk about auditions, what the drama kids are like, and what the whole experience is about.

An executive board will be created. It will contain all current officers and two representatives from each class.

Keep your ears open! Meeting times and important notes will be announced. It is your job after that to remember them and let others know.

The meeting ended at 4:00PM.

Submitted respectfully,




Camilla Cortney,
ITS Secretary