The cast of "Matilda the Musical"
StoryBook Theatre
2019/20 Annual General Meeting
AGENDA
Monday, January 18, 2021 at 7:30pm via ZOOM
1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Call to Order & Attendance
3. Motion to Approve Minutes of the November 4, 2019 AGM
4. Motion to Accept AGM Attendance into the records
- Message
7. Review 2019/20 Financial Statement for year ending June 30, 2020
8. Board Resignations & Motion to Accept
9. Board Nominations & Elections
10. Motion to approve and change of societal information
11. Other Business
12. Questions
13. Call Meeting to a close
Artax the Horse "The Neverending Story"
WHO ARE WE?
StoryBook Theatre is Canada's largest volunteer-driven Theatres for Young Audiences and families. In our almost 45 years of serving Calgary, we have fostered the love and passion for theatre arts in over one million people. Each season we bring together some of the industry's brightest emerging talents both on and off the stage to create some incredibly accessible theatre for the whole family.
We bring stories to life in a way that encourages children and their families to dream about who they are and may become, to explore the story from different perspectives, to think using inductive reasoning, and to connect to other people and ideas.
MISSION STATEMENT
StoryBook celebrates the power of theatre to inspire children and their families to dream, explore, think, and connect through high-caliber accessible theatre school programming and productions.
VISION STATEMENT
StoryBook Theatre seeks to provide a vital performing arts organization known for its commitment to accessible and diverse family theatre programming.
Our Commitment to our Community
Our actions & continued work toward equity, inclusivity, diversity and accessibility
As the world around us has risen up, it is important for StoryBook to take this time and look inward. We have been having difficult and inspiring conversations amongst ourselves, our artists, and the community we serve.
“Children are the future, teach them well, let them lead the way.”
Linda Creed & Michael Masser
2019/20 Board of Directors
PRESIDENT: Jolene Anderson
VICE PRESIDENT: VACANT
TREASURER: Trishi Karan
SECRETARY/PAST PRESIDENT: Kathy Bauer
DIRECTORS
Sharleen Gatcha
Amanda Ierfino
Melissa Smith
Lauren Piercy
Lindsay Greiwe
President's Report
This past season was a year unlike any other. There is nothing that could prepare us for the rollercoaster ride we were about to embark on. Our organization was able to change, grow, and explore many new avenues in response to the ever-changing environment. I am proud to have been a small part of this organization's success in continuing to bringing joy and magic to the StoryBook community. The arts industry was hit hard this last year. At StoryBook we had to cancel half our season with no knowledge of if we would be able to launch our next season. This meant closing our doors not only to our patrons but also to our teams, actors, students, teachers, and employees. In this pandemic, we found that we truly needed the arts as a way to survive everything that was being thrown our way. So Storybook found a way to keep the magic alive. Theatre school went online and we created a talk show. We created new flexible online courses to support our families throughout the summer. As we finished the year we were just starting on the process of making our first movie ever. None of these amazing changes could have happened without our own Everyday Hero JP Thibodeau. He spent countless hours coming up with ideas to keep our organization alive. He reached out to his network and brought the community together to create something new and exciting. With this success, in the most trying of years, there truly is no telling what StoryBook Theatre can do in the future.
Parker Burkinshaw & Aaronsaul Negre in "The Neverending Story"
Artistic Producer's Report
As each year looms over us we fear picking the right shows, finding the right actors, teachers, directors, and designers. Never had I ever imagined I would find myself tackling a global pandemic while running a theatre, yet this is what the 2019/20 Season brought to the table.
Our Season was quite literally on track to be one of the best in StoryBook theatre history, and by all accounts it really was.
We had almost 95% attendance at all our shows! This is what is truly unprecedented! Our attendance rates are really great, but this quite literally blew past years out of the water. Furthermore, it is nearly 20% higher than most Canadian Theatres.
We kicked, or should I say "leapt" into the season with the crowd-pleasing BRING IT ON and our students in SSIP really rose to the occasion stepping outside their element to not only learn musical theatre but full-on cheer combinations.
In keeping with our mandate of pushing our emerging artists, we billed our season with an incredible line up of directors from across the country. Each director bringing with them strength-based learning and creation.
CURIOUS GEORGE hit all the right notes with audiences young and old. Julie McIsaac, the now first director and dramaturg for the Canadian Opera Company was an incredible teacher and mentor for our young company of artists.
Soon on the heels of George were MATILDA and JUNIOR CLAUS, our holiday offerings. Both brought audiences to their feet in different ways and this time we were honoured to have two Calgarians lead the charge.
Heading up Junior Claus was Valmai Goggin, the associate Artistic Producer for Lunchbox Theatre. We also welcomed back, Simon Mallett to direct MATILDA. Simon is a big SBT supported and the Executive Director for the Rosza Foundation. Both were able to create lovely pieces of theatre that met the needs of our audiences and artistic success. Matilda went on to be StoryBook's highest-grossing show in history, but second overall in attendance just narrowing being beaten out by Mary Poppins from a few years back.
Rounding out what would end up being the end of our season was THE NEVERENDING STORY. This show was our first venture into presenting for the deaf community. an inclusively designed show it took into account all senses and was lead by a new young actor who is deaf. This show was a visual success and the highest-selling school production we have ever produced.
The closing week of this show began the lockdown. That Monday schools closed and the stage went dark. A YEAR WITH FROG & TOAD had just began rehearsing under the direction of Janelle Cooper (the now Artistic Director for Randolph College for the Performing Arts).
Within a few short weeks, we ultimately were forced to shut down all theatre operations. Theatre went dark. Stages around the world closed with no plans to reopen any time soon. Both Frog & Toad and BIG FISH were ultimately cancelled due to COVID19.
We made the choice to cancel our Spring Theatre School programming but worked to pivot our in-process Spotlight Program of MOANA Jr. (watch it here)
We had no idea what the future had in store for us. We took it day by day, week by week, quietly moving into our 44th Season, appropriately named - "on the growing edge".
Ultimately we learned some valuable things from Season 43. We know that a smaller season works better for us. The choice to not offer programming downtown led to more focus and energy being placed on our main stage. We validated what we have always known, we are surrounded by an incredible community of people and StoryBook will prevail and overcome each obstacle, one step at a time.
There are opportunities waiting for us around every corner. In our work to pivot and shift, we created a whole new platform for SBT, online content. the creation of EVERYDAY HEROES @ HOME showed the world just what the next generation of StoryBookers will be like and inspired us to find new ways to keep moving forward.
By and large, 2019/20 was one of our most successful season - minus the pandemic. I think StoryBook had found the perfect stride and was moving in an unstoppable direction. We took the year to find all our Everyday Heroes and are ready to take on the challenges that 2020/21 have in store for us.
JP Thibodeau
Artistic Producer
Statistics & Reporting
SEASON ATTENDANCE
25,347 Attendees (-40%)
26,704 Available Seats
94.91% SOLD (+8%)
DONATIONS
817/$23,581.00 Donated to groups, individuals & families
840/$26,194.90 Artist Complimentary Tickets
1657/$49,775.90 Total Donations
PRODUCTIONS
7 Shows (-46%/13 shows in 2018/19)
134 Performances
SEASON SALES
$547,488.15 Net Sales (-35%)
$186,164.85 Profit (+107%)
$21.60 Average Ticket Prices (+8%)
90.10%
SOLD
BRING IT ON
THE MUSICAL
ATTENDANCE
2595 Attendees
2880 Available Seats
SALES
$59,799.00 Net Sales
$11,198.00 Profit
95.19%
SOLD
CURIOUS GEORGE
THE MUSICAL
ATTENDANCE
3941 Attendees
4110 Available Seats
SALES
$80,111.25 Net Sales
$14,763.27 Profit
98.89%
SOLD
MISCAST 2019
ATTENDANCE
178 Attendees
180 Available Seats
SALES
$4,815.00 Net Sales
$2,777.16 Profit
96.82%
SOLD
MATILDA
THE MUSICAL
ATTENDANCE
8017 Attendees
8280 Available Seats
SALES
$189.933.50 Net Sales
$79,910.00 Profit
93.04%
SOLD
JUNIOR CLAUS
THE MUSICAL
ATTENDANCE
4079 Attendees
434 Available Seats
SALES
$80,101.00 Net Sales
$22,241.68 Profit
95.83%
SOLD
THE NEVERENDING
STORY
ATTENDANCE
6210 Attendees
6480 Available Seats
SALES
$124,294.80 Net Sales
$50,060.42 Profit
90.83%
SOLD
TOP SECRET MUSICAL
2020
ATTENDANCE
327 Attendees
360 Available Seats
SALES
$8,433.60 Net Sales
$5,213.71 Profit
COVID19 IMPACT
The following are the shows which were directly impacted by the pandemic and the sales they were at prior to their ultimate cancellation. All patrons were credited towards future programming.
A YEAR WITH
FROG & TOAD
ATTENDANCE
2797 Attendees
4320 Available Seats
64.75% SOLD
SALES
$47,853.25 Net Sales
BIG FISH
THE MUSICAL
ATTENDANCE
2800 Attendees
4320 Available Seats
64.81% SOLD
SALES
$57,270.00 Net Sales
THEATRE SCHOOL NUMBERS
The following are the THEATRE SCHOOL programs offered in the 2019/20 Season and their respective sales. Those indicated with a negative number are lost sales due to Covid19.
SALES
$273,061.018 Net Sales (-12%)
1045 Students (-41%)
BURSARIES
46/$24,860.58 (-75%)
FALL | WINTER | SPRING
21 | 15 | -8
36 | 25 | -8
21 | 9 | -9
0 | 14 | -6
13
185 | 91 | -58
363
-35
211
41
The cast of "Matilda the Musical"