By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn’s Crocus 80 Theatre group reviewed their past year, including their theatre performances, and laid out their plans for hosting Theatre Fest, the provincial theatre festival for community theatre organizations, next April.
In his report on the plans for Theatre Fest, Wilson said the theme for the week, on April 1-8, 2018 at the Cugnet Centre, is “Broadway on the Souris”.
Each night during the week-long festival will have a different theme, including “Phantom of the Opera”, “West Side Story”, “Cabaret”, “Oklahoma” and “Rocky Horror Show”.
Organizers are hoping to line up a team of volunteers who will be able to help out with the provincial theatre competition. Volunteers will be needed for jobs including working back stage, taking tickets, drivers and so on.
“We’ll be approaching businesses to help us bring this prestigious event to Weyburn,” said Wilson, adding the first planning meeting was held on October 1. A press day will be held on Monday, Nov. 6, where the awards will be unveiled for Theatre Fest, and will remain on display to the public until the time for the event in the spring.
Crocus 80 also held their elections for the board executive for 2017-18, at their annual meeting on Sept. 26 at the T.C. Douglas Centre. In her report as president, Connie Nightingale reported that one of her goals for the theatre group was to create and replace the organization’s bylaws, and to keep on top of grant applications so they can receive whatever grants they are eligible for.
“It’s been a successful year. We’ve built new relationships and built bridges with businesses like never before,” she said, noting she began her year by looking into what grants were applied for and what ones they should be applying for.
The production of “Pinocchio” in the fall of 2016 involved both adults and children, she noted, “and how the cast came together was awesome.”
Once that play was done, work began to line up the stories of Robert Munsch for the summer youth theatre program, and Crocus 80 was able to secure the performance rights for 16 of his stories. Eight of them were used in the Wheat Festival production, and the other eight may be used during the year at some point. Under their agreement, Crocus 80 only has to pay the fee for performing it if they charge admission at the door.
The summer youth theatre program did well, said Nightingale, with their numbers doubling each year, and she noted that doing a series of eight short plays enabled them to use the group of 30 children in a way where all of them could be involved.
The Munsch Mania production was co-directed by Nightingale and Sean Riley, with Kaitlyn Kruger as the youth assistant. In her report, Kruger noted she very much enjoyed the experience, and said dividing it up with the smaller plays made it a little easier to deal with such a large number of youth.
For the executive for Crocus 80, Nightingale will be the president for the next year, with Chris Gillespie as vice-president, Sean Riley as treasurer, Brittany Nightingale as secretary, and board members Charline Doney, Arun Masand and Freda Lautner. Steven Wilson be an advisor to the board for Theatre Fest.
