Theater Conference and Board Summit
08/13/04 - 08/15/04

The Pennsylvania Association of Community Theatres and the Eastern States Theatre Association are pleased to invite you to Bradford, Pa., nestled in the heart of the beautiful Allegheny Mountains, for their first-ever Conference and Board Summit.

The conference runs Friday, August 13 through Sunday, August 15, 2004, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Bradford Little Theatre and their neighbors to the north, Olean Community Theatre from Olean. N.Y, will serve as hosts for the event.

Pitt-Bradford offers a complete conference facility, so conference participants will stay in the campus's apartment-style housing, eat meals on campus, and enjoy the use of the college's meeting rooms and facilities, including the brand-new, state-of-the-art Bromeley Theater. In other words, participants can enjoy an intensive, immersive experience, sharing ideas and honing their craft with other theatre practitioners from across the mid-Atlantic region.

Board members, officers, and staff members from any theatre within the ESTA service area are invited to attend: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

COST / REGISTRATION

The cost to attend is $200 per person for a single room or $150 per person for a double room, with an EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION of $175 for a single and 4125 for a double if made by August 2. The fee covers everything: room and board, meals, conference registration, workshops and forums, the keynote speaker, the performances, and the afterglows. A list of the workshops and forum topics follows below.

Registrations may be sent to Chris Mackowski, c/o Bradford Little Theatre, PO Box 255, Bradford, PA 16701. Please include your name, address, phone number, e-mail, and theatre affiliation, along with your registration fee. Please make checks payable to The Pennsylvania Association of Community Theatres.

If you have any questions, please contact Mackowski at cmackows@sbu.edu or PACT and ESTA President Steve Helsel at schelsel@winbeam.com.

TOPICS

The following Forum topics will be covered. Please note, because of time and space limitations, forums 1 & 2 will run concurrently, as will sessions 3 & 4. Therefore, it may behoove some groups to send more than one representative to the conference in order to cover all the bases.

Forum #1: Internal Relations with Board Members and Volunteers (moderated by Paul A. Nelson)

  • Strategies for dealing with difficult board members
    • People who don't do their jobs but can't be replaced (no-one to replace them or no way to get rid of them)
    • Long timers who "own" the place through work or financial contribution
    • People who want a say in everything and do others work
  • Accepting tasks and responsibility
  • Board and organization assessment tools
  • Avoiding volunteer burnout
  • Keeping the momentum going
  • Ways to keep the lines of communication open

Forum #2: Community Relations (moderated by Marsha Amato-Greenspan)

  • Dealing with the local government
  • Dealing with local businesses
  • Dealing with civic groups
  • Increasing community awareness

Forum #3: Collaboration with Other Arts Groups (moderated by Marsha Amato-Greenspan)

  • Breaking the "We can survive on our own" thought
  • Sharing resources
  • Increase ticket sales and audience attendance
  • Working together with publicity

Forum #4: Media Relations (moderated by Chris Mackowski)

  • How to improve your coverage
  • How to meet the needs of editors and reporters
  • Using media that appeal to your demographics
  • Media sponsorships

Forum #5: Hit or Miss (moderated by Steve Helsel)

  • What shows worked well for you during the past couple of seasons?
  • What shows didn't do so well?
  • Any pleasant surprises?
  • Any disappointments?

WORKSHOPS

  • How to Overcome the "We've Always Done It this Way" Syndrome, or "Why Research Should Guide Your Decisions" (presented by Chris Mackowski)
  • Tips for Grant Writing (presented by Mark Wright of TANYS)
  • Understanding Copyright Issues (presented by Carole McNall, esq.)
  • Making Your Website Work for You (presented by Chris Mackowski)
  • TANYS's Roving Adjudication System (presented by Ruth Legg)
  • Putting the FUN in Fund-Raising (presented by Erica Carl)

Tours of Pitt-Bradford's new Blaisdell Fine Arts Center, including the state-of-the-art Bromeley Theater, will also be available.

ENTERTAINMENT

On Friday night, join Bradford Little Theatre in the brand-new Bromeley Theater in Pitt-Bradford's Blaisdell Hall for an evening of original one-act plays, including the ESTA Festival-winning Fin & Euba.

Fin & Euba, by Audrey Cefaly, won the 2004 Maryland One-Act Festival and went on to represent the state at ESTA, where it took top honors. The play has a received a host of other awards, including winner of the 2003 Silver Spring State One-Act Festival, 2nd place, Nantucket Theater Competition, and Finalist in the acclaimed Ensemble Studio Theatre's Marathon of One-Act Plays. BLT's production will be directed by Anne Davenport-Leete.

Also part of the evening's line-up is the world premiere of Heart-Beat by R. G. Rader. Rader was BLT's playwright-in-residence in 2001, and Heart-Beat was given a staged reading as part of his residency. BLT is pleased to bring the script fully to life under the directorial hand of Jeff Carson.

As a special treat, BLT is pleased to welcome the Barnstormers from Ridley Park, PA, with an additional original one-act. Details will be announced soon.

Audrey Cefaly is a playwright, actor and director in the Washington Metro Area By day, Audrey is a Web Publisher at Phillips in Potomac, MD. She resides in Bowie, MD.

R. G. Rader is a college professor who lives in Passaic, New Jersey, outside New York City.

KEYNOTE SPEECH AND BOOK-SIGNING

On Saturday night, PACT and ESTA are pleased to welcome keynote speaker Gary P. Cohen, author of The Community Theater Handbook: A Complete Guide to Running a Community Theater.

Cohen's keynote will be titled "A Funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Theater."

Cohen is producing director for one of the country's most prestigious community theatres, Plays-in-the Park in Edison, New Jersey, where he has been involved since 1980. He was worked in one way or another with community theaters beginning in the 70s when he founded Celebration Playhouse. He is also co-lyricist and co-librettist for FRANKENSTEIN, the Musical, and a former legit agent at the William Morris Agency.

Cohen will also be signing copies of his book, The Community Theater Handbook (which is available from Heinemann Drama). The book signing will the sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford's book store, The Panther Shop.

PLUS: The Panther Shop will also have available copies of books by workshop presenter Chris Mackowski, author of The PR Bible for Community Theatres and the just-released Original Works: Producing and Promoting Original Plays. Mackowski will be on hand to sign copies.

CONTACT

If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact BLT President Chris Mackowski at cmackows@sbu.edu or PACT and ESTA President Steve Helsel at schelsel@winbeam.com.