Presidents Report AGM 26th Feb 2024

President’s Report AGM 26^th Feb 2024

2023 was a terrific year for Torquay Theatre Troupe as it was the first year since receiving the keys to The MAC in March 2021, that we were able to organise and hold a complete, and normal, year of plays.

During 2021 & 2022 COVID was the main culprit for disruptions and we struggled through, managing to put plays on, take them off, put them back on again!  As some, or most of you will recall.

But 2023 the disruption was the pending Shire renovations happening at an ever shifting date which was making it difficult to plan. However, we did loosely plan, and as no renovations were started during 2023, those loose plans came to fruition, and we had a full, marvellous, uninterrupted year!

Season one, our first play for the year on stage in March, was The Other Place which brought a new director into our midst. As plays are normally directed by one of the committee members, this did challenge us, but it was a good learning curve and certainly took pressure off the committee for a change.

Season two was Lonesome West, in June, directed by Glen Barton.  Again, a non-committee director, but having been a member of the Committee several years previously, and directing during that time, he understood our way of working.  This was our most expensive set for the year but brought a high level production of which we were very proud.

Season 3 is always our one act play season, a slightly more flexible season running sometime in July/August. Two short plays which we have every year as an opportunity for new people interested in theatre, which is how TTT started, to try their hand at; writing, acting, stage managing, directing etc. with the support and help of experienced mentors.

2023 was a great example of that with quite a few new talented people getting involved; a writer, a director, 3 new actors, a new stage manager and assistant stage manager and a new publicity person. The plays themselves were interesting and very different; Godzonia, the original, and first play by the writer, about COVID & lockdowns and Last Panto in Little Grimley, a first time director finding her feet. Both plays were very different, and this resulted in an intriguing evening of theatre, which the audience appreciated.

Season 4, our end of year play in November, was Tartuffe, by Molliere, to finish the year with a laugh, and it certainly did! This was a romp, a challenge, and a spectacle. Everyone got invested and that dedication paid off – TTT gained Victoria wide recognition when Tartuffe received 9 nominations and 5 major awards at the Victorian Drama League Awards Dinner in December.  They were

Nominees Comedy & Drama:

• Best Set Design – Zina Carman
• Best Lighting Design – George Carman

Nominees for Comedy:

• Best Director – Zina Carman
• Best Production – Zina Carman
• Best Male Lead – Steven Georgiadis
• Best Male Lead – Fred Preston
• Best Female Lead – Katie Hall
• Best Actress Minor Role – Terry Roseburgh
• Best Actor Minor Role – Todd Curtis

And the 5 Awards were:

• Gold Award Best Production Comedy
• Gold Award Best Male Lead Comedy – Stephen Georgiadis
• Gold Award Best Female Lead Comedy – Katie Hall
• Silver Award Best Set Design – Comedy & Drama
• Adjudicators Special Award for Ben Batterbury, the mime in Tartuffe

For context; The VDL judged 34 plays Victoria wide in 2023. To be nominated out of so many talented companies, actors and directors is an honour in itself, to win the awards – well that’s the icing on the cake!

During and in between those productions we also organised other activities:

• In March we hired Impro Melbourne to come to Torquay and introduce improvisation by having a free show, (21 new TTT members signed that night!) followed by 2 free Impro workshops in April.

This initiative resulted in an 8 week Impro course in July/August run by a member of Impro Melbourne.

• In September: A Beginners Lighting Workshop presented by the Technical Director for the Melbourne Arts Centre. He also does lighting for the Victorian Opera, Hamer Hall, Myer Music Bowl as well as other large venues. It was a pleasure to hear him say that we have lighting equipment that he does not have available at the Melbourne Arts Centre and has to hire!!
• October was the start of the TTT Acting for Beginners Course, over 6 weeks facilitated by Meryl Friend, a long time actor and teacher of acting. We are hoping to run such classes again later this year
• End of November after Tartuffe closed, we hosted an end of year Happy Hour to thank our volunteers and hired Impro Melbourne (again) for entertainment. Free for the volunteers, and a subsidised ticket price of $20 for the public. It was a great way to end the year for all of us.

To give you some idea of what the year held here are some stats for those of you that like facts & figures!

Each production needs around 62 volunteers

• 40 FOH and Bar staff
• An average of 14 production crew
• An average cast of 6 – 8

Audience numbers through the door over TTT 4 productions this year: 3,188

Audience numbers through the door for non TTT events this year: 1,764

A total of 4,952 people through the door.

We have 1,137 Facebook followers

We have nearly 100 paid up members who we hope will renew.

We manage the hiring of the Shoestring to community groups. This year saw 7 different groups enjoy the space.

We also collaborated with 6 different community groups who helped us with our productions.

As you can tell, 2023 was a busy and productive year of which we are all justly proud, and we look forward to continuing this momentum.

Zina Carman – President