ANNUAL REPORT

Pilgrim Productions Inc 2009/2010

Our first 2009 production was reported on at the last Annual General Meeting. Our second ended the year on a very high note. 84 Charing Cross Road proved to be an excellent choice and appeared to be much appreciated by audiences.

 We had a new director for it, Richard Purro, and found him to be a skilled director and a pleasure to work with. Richard brought a clear vision for the play and the cast responded well to his expert direction.

Auditions were poorly attended and we seem to be encountering the same difficulty as many other societies in Auckland in getting actors. Lynn Webster was a star in the leading female role, Helene Hanif, and Bruce Weston performed with his usual skill and sincerity as Frank Doel. They were ably supported by the rest of the cast - Karen Yates, Glenda Matchett, Kerry Thornton, Andrew Gordon and Geoff Barlow.

The set, designed by Peter Carr, was a believable London antiquarian bookshop and New York apartment. All hands were on deck to make and paint it and it drew favourable comments from audiences.

While we thought the play an artistic success, it was a highlight of our year to be nominated for every category in the Auckland Community Theatre Trust awards.

This is the first time any society has ever achieved this. We also received one Northern Area Performance Theatre Awards nomination. When the awards were announced in March, we were delighted to receive the following seven awards:

NAPTA — Best actress in a leading role — Lynn Webster

ACTT — Best production for 2009, Best Director (Richard Purro), Best Stage Management (Mary Boyd), Best Properties (Glenda Matchett), Best Ensemble (Lynn Webster, Bruce Weston, Karen Yates, Glenda Matchett, Kerry Thornton, Andrew Gordon and Geoff Barlow) and again Best actress in a leading role — Lynn Webster.

Audience numbers were down compared to the previous production with an average 40% house over the season. We appreciated Rem uera Baptist church booking a whole house one night as a fund raiser and this has encouraged us to offer several gala nights for our next production.

A disappointment towards the end of the year was the news from Bruce Weston that he would be moving to Blenheim following his retirement. Bruce had been a member of Pilgrim for over 25 years and in that time had acted in many plays, wrote and directed a series of plays for the churches and directed Steel Magnolias for us. In addition he served for 5 years as Chairman of Pilgrim. The committee celebrated Bruce’s contribution to Pilgrim and wished him well for the future at a barbeque in January.

No sooner had we come to terms with the loss of Bruce than we heard that Peter and his partner Jacqui Rice were moving to Sydney to live. Peter has been on the Pilgrim committee for a number of years, designed and built sets and managed our lighting and sound in many productions. Jacqui was an energetic help to Peter in all areas and we will miss them both very much.

Planning for 2010 has therefore presented a few challenges. We wondered if we had the capability to continue with the loss of such expertise and support. At an early committee meeting we welcomed David Hines as a new committee member and Mary Boyd accepted the Deputy Chair position that had been vacated by Bruce. Approaches have been made for additional committee members and for more active members via the newsletter.

With these reinforcements we planned in faith for another year. Having decided to defer our initial idea of presenting a musical until 2011, we approached Richard Purro to direct for us again and were delighted when he agreed. In consultation with Richard, we chose An Inspector Calls for our main production and were encouraged when we found volunteers for all production areas. This play will be preceded by a touring play around the churches directed by Marion Hines and produced by Pilgrim as Magenta Theatre Company is in recess this year.

In March, Marion Hines represented Pilgrim at the Musical Theatre NZ annual conference in Auckland. Useful knowledge was gained sharing stories with other societies and hearing informed speakers on various topics. As a result we have received a copy of a Theatre Safety Code of Practice that we will be studying and have been encouraged to create our own manual of practice. We have started on this task and it will be a work in progress this year.

To our extremely hard working committee members, I say thank you all. The generous gift of your time and talents to Pilgrim is warmly appreciated. Special thanks to Bruce Weston, Peter Carr and Jacqui Rice. And thank you also to all the spouses, partners and friends who help in a variety of ways both back-stage and front of house. Pilgrim could not do it without you.

Blessings to you all!

Marion Hines