BOARDTREADER SEPTEMBER 2015 Shinfield Players’ Theatre’s mission is to provide a venue for creating and experiencing theatre in all its forms. We aim to continue to train and develop our membership, so that everyone may enjoy socialising, working together and participating in theatre. We are extremely fortunate to have our own building to allow us to accomplish this. By providing this public social and entertainment centre, we are able to fund Shinfield Players by producing public dramatic performances. Working Weekend - ONE LEFT! The last Theatre Working Weekend is Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th September (Bar-B-Q in the afternoon for those attending the working party). There is a list on the foyer wall of tasks we need to do before we open for a new season (League of Friends of Royal Berks Hospital Show is on the 19th September) so please try to come along , even for just an hour, on one of the days. Every little helps! Staff and Friends of the Royal Berkshire Hospital bring you an evening of Music and Song. Sing a Song on Saturday I9th September 2015 at 7.45 Shinfield Players' Theatre Tickets £8.00 Can be purchased from League of Friends shops in RBH or email lof@royalberkshire.nhs.uk or Tel 0118 3228592 Raising funds for League of Friends of the Royal Berkshire Hospital (Charity No 249956) MOTHER GOOSE Is Mother Goose a golden hearted saint, or a vain, Gosling hoarder? When The Good Fairy and the Wicked Troll bet on Mother Goose’s good nature, strange things start to happen at the Goosery. Why does the evil Baron’s nephew go from nice young man to foulmouthed jerk? How does Heidi Goose begin to produce Golden eggs? What is the ‘Bog of Beauty’? Come along and all will be revealed. Readings: Sunday 20thSeptember 2:30pm and Wednesday 23rd September 8 pm at Shinfield Players' Theatre. Auditions: Sunday 27th September 2:30pm. MURDER MYSTERY SUPPER Shinfield Players' Radio Broadcast format "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY" Written by Carol Vockins Tickets £12 includes box supper meal. Fri 2nd and Sat 3rd October Please contact Carol if you want to be "cast". She needs 14 actors to read parts (No learning). Rehearsals: Tuesday 29th Sept and Thursday 1st Oct. @ 7:45pm Quiz Evening Sat 17th Oct at 7.30pm at the theatre Cost £6 per head to include cold buffet supper Teams of 4-6ish Please sign up on the theatre notice board by Oct 11th or contact Jon and Annette Chishick on 0118 984 3666 or email jon@shinfieldplayers.org.uk Sat 10th Oct at 7.30 Adults £8 Concessions £6 Children £4 Hot dogs available in the interval Please dress up as T- birds and Pink Ladies! (if you want to) Communications Working Party Further to the AGM, I would like to put together a Communications Working Group. This group will look at the communication aspects of the society like the website, Boardtreader, social media and also be able to assist directors with posters/flyers/programmes so that we can keep the society moving from strength to strength. If anyone would like to join this working group please let me know, or message me if you want to just have a chat about what it will involve. My email address is simonbrandt83@me.com. I am hoping to get several people so that the workload is split so no one member is bogged down with huge commitments. Thanks, Simon Playing Away 18th-21st November 2015 at 7.45 This has now been cast and is in rehearsal. Gwen Velma Joyce Seamus Danny Kath Simon Tilly Taphouse Lorraine Willis Pat Willis Simon Trinder Dan Walford Melanie Sherwood Alex Buchan Sarah Tara Gary Alan Claire Dawn Tanya Bird Amy Spiller Chris Pett Gordon Bird Mazz Hancock Samantha Rawdon Backstage Training We would like to run some training in backstage skills to widen the number of people who can setup and run shows. To this end I would like to run the following backstage courses and then to follow up the courses with some shadowing of people to get experience running an actual show. We are looking for both trainers and people willing to be trained. Training Courses: Lighting Desk Basic. Learn how to run a pre-configured lighting desk for a show. Lighting Advanced. For people who already know how to run the lighting desk and would like to learn how to hang and set light and program the lighting desk. Sound Desk Basic. Learn how to run the Show Cue system for a show on the laptop computer. Sound Advanced. For people who already know how to run the Show Cue system to learn how to program the Show Cue system for a show. Stage Management. Learn how to stage manage a show. Set Design Basic. Take a simple box set layout from a play script and develop a design that will work on the Shinfield stage keeping within budget. Please email tim@shinfieldplayers.org.uk stating which course(s) you are interested in and whether you are a trainer or want to be trained. From Facebook: This is our workshop as I've never seen it. A completely clear workbench and clear space to the right of the paint shop! We just need to sort out the wood-pile and clear a temporary table of miscellaneous items. There is still plenty more to do if anyone can make it for the final working weekend. Any help would be appreciated even if only a couple of hours and there are light tasks to do as well as more strenuous ones. We also need to thank Di and Natalie who decided we needed to be drastic and started the process of clearing out after years of accumulation. From now on please do not put anything in the workshop without the knowledge of Graham, Tim or Martin W; otherwise it may be thrown out! AROUND THE THEATRE.................WITH ADAM AND EVE Good Day to 'e all. Well, what a wet month it has been - so they tell us the wettest August for many a year. Despite the rain, progress was made on the working weekends clearing the weeds around the car park and out the front. It was not possible to cut the lawn over the Bank Holiday as it was too damp. Much progress has been made in both the Workshop and Wardrobe areas and we may have to organise "tours" for members as bits of these areas have now been exposed that have not seen the light of day for decades. Even Mushy the cat came in to inspect the progress being made. Talking of intrusions, Eve had a fright t'other Sunday when she went into the Ladies toilet and made a discovery of a large heap on the floor. Don't panic ladies it was not something left by you, but none other than the theatre hedgehog. Now how she (well it must be a she as it was in the Ladies) got in there we have no idea except this: the only route we can guess is that she entered from outside under the building, came up in the service core between the toilets, climbed up the wall, into the loft space and dropped down outside the coffee stop where the trap hatch was open, walked across to the Ladies loo and pushed the door open. I think the backstage crew stories about the Fairies building scenery over night is more probable than the hedgehog theory. Anyway, the hedgie was put in a box, fed and watered, and later released under Mushy's shed. Well, that's all for now. See you at the last working weekend! Chairman's Postscript I was delighted to be re-elected as your Chairman at the A.G.M. and promise to continue working hard to secure the lease for the theatre and start the long haul that will be the redevelopment plan. I will work with the committee to ensure our communications receive a thorough review and are modernised in keeping with the very latest technology. I was also pleased that Gill Sharp received a thank you certificate and flowers in recognition for her work with the BT, chaperones and the youth group supervision. DEADLINE FOR NEXT BT – 25/9/15. Please email items to: shinfieldboardtreader@hotmail.co.uk