2019 Presidents Annual General Meeting Report: A Reflection on 2019

by Trevor Osburn, President of Beaumaris Theatre

2019 has been another year of outstanding success. It is tremendously rewarding to be able to report that our Theatre continues to give pleasure to our community, with more than 3,000 tickets sold over our four productions this year.

Our shows this year attracted audiences of more than 3,000 people. The four shows included 40 cast members, 25 crew and 22 musicians. This is over and above the more than 50 volunteers who provide all necessary things that a production needs, including set building, wardrobe (costumes), props, publicity, front of house, managing our website and Trybooking page, cleaning the Theatre and surrounds ordering supplies ensuring maintenance items are completed. So thank you to all our volunteers for ensuring Beaumaris Theatre can provide a great venue.

What a wonderful year e have had! With four very different (but perhaps with similar themes), but successful in their own way. Just a brief recap… we started with:

Seminar -With sharp dialogue, and a slew of bitter, jaded, pretentious characters, but it was a smart and fast-paced exercise for a crew of talented performers. Seminar follows four young writers and their professor. Each student has paid Leonard $5,000 for a ten-week writing seminar to be held in Kate’s Upper West Side apartment. As tensions arise and romance falls, they clash over their writing, their relations, and their futures. We thank Kirsten Page for bringing it to life on the Beaumaris stage.

Company - Colin Armstrong delivered a magnificent show that is composed of short stories about Robert and his impending 35th birthday. This is a Sondheim classic brought to the stage with the most magnificent singers and outstanding Sabbatucci choreography. Malcom Huddle brought the score to life with a small but talented orchestra. 10 sell-out shows was a fitting tribute to the creative team.

Pillow Talk - Andy Payne is a local playwright with a story that touched us all in some way. Beaumaris Theatre takes great pride in recognising the work of creative people and this was the second play written by Andy. As the director said himself: ‘Pillow Talk is a window into the lives of a happily married couple and their family at a time of crisis. But can we really be asked to keep the promises made in the first flushes of romance?’ Andy and his team were able to bring together this poignant story with a lovely mixture of laughter and sadness. Some special post-show Q&As were an innovation and added a voice to the show and the subject of assisted dying.

Buddy - 13 sellout shows was a magnificent outcome for The Buddy Holly Story with a big star brought to life. Debbie Keyt, Camilla Klesman and Rhonda Vaughan made Buddy an inspired choice to bring to the Beaumaris stage. Congratulations to set designer Pietro Giordano and the hours of work putting up the shimmering grey curtains by Milanka Giordano, Cheryllyn de Vries and Deb Carpenter. Together with the outstanding 1950’s costumes by Jenni Osburn made Buddy an outstanding success.

Victorian Drama League In recognition of the long term outstanding contributions to Beaumaris Theatre, we continue to sponsor two awards for the Victorian Drama League. These awards are The Alan Crispin Award for Lighting Design and the Chris Churchard and Neil Barnett Award for Set Design. Our nominated show for 2019 was Seminar. Our congratulations to Alicia Patzer for her nomination for Best Leading Actress.

Musical Theatre Guild of Victoria Our 2019 nominations were Snoopy - The Musical and Company. Congratulations to Nicholas Kong on his nomination for Best Lead Actor for his portrayal of Robert in Company. Commendations were received by Tony Burge for Leading Actor in Snoopy, the whole ensemble of Snoopy - The Musical and Company and Malcom Huddle as Musical Director of Company.
It could be argued that in 2019 Beaumaris Theatre was one of the most recognised theatre companies in the Musical Theatre Guild of Victoria. Both are listed shows had a number of commendations especially for the whole cast of our two nominated shows and of course Company had a nomination with Nicholas. We also had a number of people who had been on our stage recently who were recognised for their efforts in other productions:
- Tim Verdon was a co-winner for Best Musical Direction for Miss Saigon with OSMaD
- Bryn Bowen won for Male Performer in a Leading Role for The Producers at Panorama Theatre
- Nicholas Kong received a nomination for Best Director for Side Show with Williamstown Musical Theatre Company
- Kristy Griffin was nominated for Best Choreography for Miss Saigon with OSMaD
- Amy Larsen as nominated for Best Lead Actress for Side Show with Williamstown Musical Theatre Company
- Carolyn Waddell was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Rosie Mulligan for Mamma Mia for CLOC Musical Theatre

The Talbot’s Milano’s was again the spectacular venue for our own night-of-nights - the Talbot’s. Thank you to the band, Rhonda Vaughan, Keith Morgan, Bill Clarke and Sue Paterson, for their accomplished musical accompaniment.
2019 saw a change in the way we celebrate our Theatre. In early 2019 it was decided that we would adopt our new look Talbots which focuses on celebrating and honouring all our theatrical achievements and the awards component will be replaced with each show being highlighted by each director and recognising memorable moments and introducing and acknowledging cast and crew. There continued to be musical performances throughout the evening, the presentation of the President’s Award and we ended the night with dancing!
It was unanimously decided that everyone would like to see the Adjudicators Awards retained and three adjudicators worked together to present several awards for each production. The 2019 adjudicators were Stephen Shinkfield, David Krause and Trish Angliss and again we thank them for their service and support.
Congratulations to Debbie Keyt and her team for organising a wonderful event!

The Janine Chugg Award is given to someone who is not on our Committee but works behind the scenes in a variety of ways to advance our theatre. The 2019 recipients was Fiona Williams. Fiona first came to Beaumaris Theatre as the result of a neighbourhood party we organised at which Cheryl Threadgold asked Fiona to be the Stage Manager for Dimboola. Cheryl obviously recognised the wonderfully organised and pragmatic qualities of Fiona. She must have made a good first impression!
Over the past 10 years, Fiona has staged managed or worked as part of backstage crews for thirteen productions and has appeared in five.
Fiona is one of our wonderful volunteers who steps in and contributes whenever she is asked and volunteers when she is not. Fiona helps out at our set builds, front of house and sometimes (because she lives so close) takes out or brings in our bins.
Congratulations Fiona!

Sponsors
Duncan Thompson Extensions have continued to provide valuable support in 2019, sponsoring our First Aid kits and the advertising board in front of our building. Duncan Thompson Extensions have been very receptive to various opportunities for sponsorship including programs and has been outstanding in their liaison with the Bayside City Council as we work to improve our Bio box on the rear wall of the Theatre.
We especially thank Mr Chris French - Managing Director and Mrs Lynda French - Media Manager for their significant contribution in recent years.
I would like to thank the Bayside City Council for all their assistance in 2019. We have a wonderful asset in having our own theatre space and the Bayside City Council continues to provide substantial assistance to the maintenance required by the more than 60-year-old building. In 2019 we obtained a grant of $3,000 for new chairs for our audience members.
Mentone Girls Secondary College has been kind enough to allow the ‘next production’ advertising board placement to be on their grounds facing Balcome Road. We thank them for their generosity. Thank you to Amelia for organising the display boards.
The Bendigo Bank has been an important supporter over the years of Beaumaris Theatre and continued to do so in 2019. Bendigo Bank has provided a grant of $2,000 to be used for improving our sound cabling which will be completed in 2020.

VIP Volunteers
Kerry Hollier has managed our Front of House rosters over the last couple of years and continued this task in 2019. We thank Kerry for her energy and commitment.
Peter Hunter has continued installing new LED lights in a number of rooms in the Theatre as well as a spotlight for the car park. Thank you, Peter, for getting this completed.
Peter Newling presented a government talk in April to ensure local committees understand their responsibilities. We had a number of attendees from other local theatre companies including Mordialloc Theatre Company, MLOC, Brighton Theatre Company and Frankston Theatre Company.

Fundraising
The Theatre was the venue for a number of fundraising activities in 2019 including:
Broadway With a Twist - Congratulations to the Broadway With a Twist producers and cast on a wonderful showcase of the immense talent. Well done to Natasha Bassett and Danny Forward. All money raised from ticket sales ent to the Anamalia Wildlife Shelter and Cheltenham Cat Rescue, to wonderful local organisations.
Relay for Life Trivia Night - Thanks to Geoff Arnold and Penny Meallin for organising the annual event which was hosted by Peter Newling.
The Biggest and Latest Morning Tea - Thank you to Debbie Keyt who organised the performers and crew for another exciting event.
In 2019 we supported a new fundraising team - Maggie Stewart and her friends organised an event with proceeds going to Beyond Blue. The trivia night tickets sold out six weeks ahead of the event. We congratulate Maggie on a wonderful outcome.

The Building
Our Theatre was also used regularly by D.K. Productions, Myeloma Support Group, the Men’s Shed, MLOC Productions and Betty’s Babies Comedy Night.

The Committee
I would like to thank the Beaumaris Theatre Committee of 2019 for all their hard work and dedication to the Theatre. The Committee has continued to look forward, and both plan and provide for the needs of our Theatre.
Our Committee has again demonstrated that they are working as a collective with the common view of providing the Beaumaris community with a Theatre of distinction both in a structural and cultural sense.
A number of decisions made in 2019 were based around improvements to the theatre - continuing the move to a more multi-faceted space in front of the stage and a better working environment behind the stage.
Being on a committee of management requires a strong personal commitment and there is an expectation that Committee member obtains a satisfactorily completed:
- Working With Children Check
- Responsible Serving of Alcohol Certificate
- Basic First Aid Certificate
- Undertake training in CPR and use of our defibrillator
I am pleased to report that all members of your Committee hold these qualifications. Beaumaris Theatre will continue to meet the dollar costs of these qualifications but the Committee members provide the time and energy to satisfy the regular training required to maintain their skill.
The individual committee members haven’t changed significantly over recent years. As President of Beaumaris Theatre, I hope that we continue to harness the strengths of these individuals to achieve collective success.

We can again count 2019 as another step into the bright future of Beaumaris Theatre - Theatre For All!