A Review of Our Fiscal Year September 2015-August 2016

Fresh off the Annual General Meeting, our outgoing, long-term President, Pamela Milani, brought everyone up to date on the past fiscal year from September 2015 to August 2016.

Pam was on her second round of Presidency and had a total of 8 years as head of the board. As it is with most small non-profit groups, even though you are not officially on the board, you will still be expected to put out 120%. Just ask the new President, who has not been on the board for a few years...although she has been in the position more than once...and has easily covered the 120% effort.

And to quote the new Prez, "That being said...", here is the new Board of Directors for the 2017.

President-Teresa Weber

Vice-President-Calypso Malcolm
Secretary-Bailey Lemcke
Treasurer-Marilyn Kuntz
Theatre Saskatchewan Rep-Amber Matechuk

Public Relations-Whitney Treasure

Member at Large-Jason Heinmiller

So after all of that, here is Pamela's review...

Paper Bag Players Season in Review

Sept’15-Aug ‘16 We started off the season preparing to host TheatreOne 2015, “Theatre Never Sleeps”. 

The festival took place Nov. 5th, 6th & 7th at Sacred Heart High School. The 5th was a workshop only in the evening with performances taking place the 6th & 7th. We had 5 communities taking part in the festival, Kerrobert, Regina, Melfort, Indian Head and PBP. Our own production of “Elevator” starred Marilyn Kuntz and Teresa Weber and was directed by Leanne Keys with Pam Milani and Whitney Treasure taking on tech duties.

The Elevator received honorable mention in acting for both ladies, honorable mention for directing and runner up to best entry, with Kerrobert taking home the top award in all three of those same categories. 

Wrapping up TheatreOne meant focusing on our Christmas production “Sorry Wrong Chimney”. Our annual dinner theatre took place Nov. 20/21, 27/28that St Gerard’s hall.  The JayWalkers once again provided entertainment for the cabaret following the performance.  Sorry Wrong Chimney also performed in front of a sold out crowd in Preeceville. The show featured Sarah Christie-Petrovich, Dave Walker, Ray Stokes, Amber Matechuk, Kris Gendall, Catlin Hogan and Pam Milani and was directed by Teresa Weber and Marilyn Kuntz, with Whitney Treasure on tech duties.

Finishing up 2 hectic back to back shows meant that some of us needed to relax and what better way to do that than a trip to Saskatoon to Persephone Theatre to watch “Farndale Christmas Carol”. A guided tour of the theatre was provided by Dan MacDonald, artistic associate of Persephone and he also adjudicated TheatreOne for us.

Our AGM took place January 2016 and our board saw some changes and new faces. Outgoing secretary Julie Parisloff, and incoming secretary was Sarah Christie-Petrovich.  Outgoing treasurer Jason Heinmiller moved to VP and Glenda Sprowl came on as treasurer. Outgoing VP Whitney Treasure moved to Member At Large(MAL). Theatre Saskatchewan (TSI)Rep Amber Matechuk was able to hold on to her position as did president Pam Milani (surprise!). Marilyn Kuntz also stayed on as Public Relations(PR).

Fast forward to May ’16 and Glenda Sprowl left her position as treasurer (and left Yorkton) so Marilyn Kuntz moved over to treasurer with Peter Rousay moving onto the board as MAL and Whitney Treasure became our new PR Rep. and Pam remained as president :/

Spring 2016 quickly became another busy time for PBP. Preparations for our spring show “Hold Please” began early February. This show featured Pam Milani, Amber Matechuk, Teresa Weber and Leanne Keys and was directed by first timer Whitney Treasure. Glenda Sprowl and Whitney both worked in our tech booth. “Hold Please” went all the way to Moose Jaw for TheatreFest ’16 and once again PBP brought home the brass!

This time the four leading ladies tied for the best actress award and Leanne Keys also brought home the award for best characterization. There was also an honorable mention for the backstage tech award.

Spring 2016 also saw our first Ladies Night and what a night it was! “Hold Please” was the featured performance followed again by a cabaret with the JayWalkers. Ladies night was a sold out crowd and saw many door prizes, draws and wine give aways. As well as on site vendors and a silent auction with many of the prizes being donated by local businesses. It was decided to make this an annual event and we noted to buy a lot more wine and beer, yes ladies do like beer :)

No rest for the weary, up next was our annual paparazzi stint with the Yorkton Film Festival. This year our volunteers decided to take in Lobster Fest, 

it was decided that lobster fest will also be an annual event!

Always looking for fundraising ideas we set up at the 2nd Ave Fair and sold some of our PBP popcorn. A few dollars and some club awareness was raised.

Closing out the season was our 2nd Renaissance fair scheduled for July 23rd at Rodney Ridge and everything was in place for a full day of adventure, entertainment and vendors and then it rained, no it poured and thundered. 

The renaissance fair was postponed until the next day which turned out to be a beautiful hot summer day, however the delay meant losing the entire Viking village being brought to us courtesy of Loki’s Brood Viking Group as well as some of our vendors. Our production of “the Sword in the Stone”, the Me’ira belly dancing troupe out of Estevan and some local entertainers performed under a blue sky. 

The postponement didn’t seem to keep the crowds away as we had a great turn out again this year. We are looking at making this event bigger and better by forming a separate committee and partnering with Loki’s Brood.

Thank you to all of you that helped make this another fantastic season and for all the hard work everyone puts into making this club so successful. We’re heading into our 35th season still going strong with money in the bank!

THAT’S A WRAP!!

Pam