Are you looking to put on a show? HITW has six 4 week slots available in our upcoming 2019-2020 season, and the shows that will be put into those slots will be chosen at our upcoming Annual Meeting on May 8th at 7pm!
The moment you walk through the doors, you become a voting member of the theater capable of proposing and voting on shows. In order for a show to be eligible to be voted on at the annual meeting, two requirements must be met:
1. The proposed show must have a director and a producer, and they must be present at the annual meeting. Producer responsibilities include staffing, scheduling, budgeting, financial records, and reimbursements.
2. Two copies of the show’s script must have been left in the theater for the membership to read at least two weeks prior to the vote taking place.
Prior to proposing your show please contact HITW’s publishing company liaison Bill Arnold at warnold909@gmail.com and have him check whether rights are available for the show you want to propose. Please have a pitch prepared for the Annual Meeting. The pitch should detail what your show is and why it should be included in our season. Be prepared to field questions about the show. You’ll also want to have an idea of which slot(s) you’d prefer your show to occupy. To get a rough idea of next season’s calendar you may take a look at the current season’s show dates and calendar on our website, www.hitw.org.
The deadline for scripts to be in the theater is April 24th. Start thinking about what shows you’d like to propose, and who’s going to be producing and directing now! If you go to the General Meeting before the Annual Meeting you’ll have a head-start on promoting your shows to other members of the theater prior to the vote! That General Meeting will be April 17th at 7 pm.
The voting process is as follows: any show which receives a 2/3 majority of votes in a particular slot is chosen for that slot. If there is no clear winner, the show with the least votes is dropped from the ballot, and the slot is voted on again. “No Show” is always a voting option, and does not indicate a desire to shut the theater down for that slot, but that the available choices are unacceptable to the voter. A show running unopposed must still receive 2/3 of the vote against “No Show” to be chosen. If no show wins a 2/3 majority after 3 ballots, the process is repeated at the next GM, and all shows which were dropped are eligible again.
If an entire slot sounds like too much, we have one full-weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) showcase slot in between the show slots. We also have several empty Saturday/Sunday nights we’re looking to fill. We prefer each showcase have a director and a producer, but showcases are more flexible. If you have an idea for a showcase, take a look at the calendar on our website, www.hitw.org, and bring it up at one of our general meetings. Talk to the current directors, producers, set builders, etc and see if you can work around their build/rehearsal/show schedule.
In addition to voting on the calendar and shows for next season, each of our current board members will be up for re-election at the Annual Meeting. Like any other General Meeting, board nominations will be open at the Annual Meeting. The board handles the administrative side of the theater, and is a great opportunity for anyone looking to volunteer and help theater flourish in New Britain.