CET Booster Club Board Meeting

Minutes, January 16, 2025, Approved

Present: Trudy Gates (house manager), Sascha Matish (president), Margie Morris (producer), Alisse Portnoy (secretary), Emily Wilson-Tobin (director).

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm.

  1. Minutes from the December 16, 2024 Board Meeting were approved.

  2. Recap of General Booster Club Meeting

    1. Good meeting, nice to have in person even though it was a smaller group.

    2. Consider noting in the announcement that the general meetings typically run about 30 minutes with some brief time for saying hello after the meeting; it looked as if the meeting was going to be a long one in the announcements.

  3. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Cara Genisio was unable to attend the meeting, but the report is that CET’s Booster Club has stable and sufficient funds. It was agreed that’s a good thing, generally and also because Curtains will be a more expensive show than Midsummer. 

  4. Microphone for Sound Crew Purchases (also theater camera update)

    1. Sound crew has been using Dell and older equipment. Ed is requesting the industry standard, which is QLab and which uses Mac (for reference, Great Comet is formatted for QLab). Might the district cover the laptop? The board unanimously voted to allocate $2000 towards Sound Crew needs, and if the needs list amounts to more the board will consider additional allocations pending how much Curtains makes. 

    2. Andy Fillmore is coming to look at the theater camera for the monitor. 

  5. CET Booster Board Election Process

    1. Sascha and Alisse will draft an election protocol that aligns with the Booster Club’s bylaws and is transparent with lots of lead time. 

    2. Note some Board roles are nominated/elected, and some are appointed volunteer opportunities (for example, House Manager).

    3. Trudy is committed for at least two more years, and would welcome a shadow incoming house manager next year.

  6. Volunteers and Employees

    1. Some updates were discussed about start dates, payments, etc., for Adam, Abby, and Quinn.

    2. Sascha volunteered to get Steve a gift card from CET for his time and effort. 

    3. The Board will continue discussions after Emily gets more information about volunteer forms, the WillSub process, and what it means for payment and liability whether people are volunteers or employees. 

  7. New Listserv Updates

    1. The new list for Curtains, which is the first e-list through the new web platform, is going smoothly. 

    2. After the CET Banquet and into the summer, we’ll transition CET’s “2009” list – the mass, historical list – to the new platform, with lots of emails and Instagram posts explaining the “opt in” process. That list will be called “CET General List” and the goal is for it to be ready for the transition back to school in August.Margie is happy to work with the student board merch rep to do whichever process students prefer. 

    3. It would be helpful if future registration forms for cast and crew include a question asking for students’ graduation year. That would be important information to have for maintenance of the general list; grade level isn’t helpful for this purpose.

  8. Merchandise Updates

    1. Margie reports that students are interested in socks, following the successful launch of CET keychains. People also are requesting sweatshirts and pajama pants. 

    2. Next popup will start at Just Desserts (April 4/5) and be open for a week or two. Among other timing benefits, that schedule means merch likely can be distributed at the CET Banquet on May 28.

  9. Thank You Notes 

    1. Students will start writing thank-you notes during the Curtains strike. 

    2. Alisse will reach out to the Student Board to see if they’d prefer to take the lead or have the Booster Board organize the activity. 

    3. Sascha reports that we’ve got stationery left from “Love Letters” that can be used. 

  10. Land Acknowledgment and Related Discussions

    1. Moving forward, Emily believes and the Board agrees that there could be show-specific cultural awareness emerging from each show. For example, Curtains has some offensive lines specific to Native and Indigenous issues. Sometimes it’s invisible or unpaid labor, or other issues, for example. UM’s SMTD talked about “unhoused” people during their performance of Rent.

    2. For Curtains, it makes sense to revisit CET’s Land Acknowledgement and talk with students about it and also some related, relevant information so that the Land Acknowledgement is part of, not the end of, educational efforts. Emily will reach out to Sarah Heckler, Cindy Haidu-Banks, and Alisse about something leading up to the Curtains run. 

  11. Matters Arising

    1. Tickets and Ticket Prices

      1. $20 for adults, $15 for students, $10 if students buy tickets in school. 

      2. Student board will suggest to Forum leaders that they buy a block of tickets for their Forum. 

    2. Set and Seating for Curtains

      1. The set is more traditional, with the audience in a traditional place. The pit is in the back right corner as one enters the theater (aka stage left). 

      2. Trudy will hold latecomers until an appropriate point in the show. The director or stage manager will let Trudy know what that point for late seating is before the show’s run begins. 

    3. Course Credit: Does Mock Trial get course credit? Does Emily want to circle back about course credit?

The meeting was adjourned at 8:06 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Alisse Portnoy, Secretary