The Grand Production Board met Wednesday night at 5:30. This is the group that works behind the scenes to make everything happen at the Grand. Joan Mest supervises both Concessions and Ushers. She reported a need for more "kid" candy like M&Ms and Skittles for the upcoming Nutcracker Ballet. No popcorn will be offered during those performances. She made special note of the excellent team of ushers who worked the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" and the messy cleanup afterwards. Based on the good time and good behavior of everyone who attended we decided to do "Rocky" again next year on the Saturday before Halloween.
Christine Sikula, our Costume Dept. supervisor reported nothing new. The next big event is "Buddy" in February and those costumes are being rented from a lady who has done them for this show at UD. The need for some type of door on the costume room directly off the elevator was noted.
Our Prop Lady, Lynda Eigenberger, thanked everyone for their help with BINGO and ROCKY. There is a need for quite a few 1950s items for BUDDY. She'll prepare that list and start looking soon.
Jill Peterson, our Office Manager and Box Office Supervisor reported that 4-pack, 8-pack and season passes were selling well. We're currently offering a 2 for 1 coupon for CHAPTER SIX sponsored by the Dubuque Arts Council November 28. Those are starting to move well. Jill also reported the excellent response to group sales for the 2011 season. The leader so far is the SWING OUT show with over 300 seats already sold.
Helen Kilburg, lead House Manager reported the need for House Manager reports to be filled in after every show. She has worked with some new volunteers from IBM that are doing a fine job. One has agreed to work as House Manager for shows in 2011.
Make Up supervisor, Becky Heil, reported that she will be do a cleanup of the Make Up dept. soon. Becky has also been assisting in the Box Office during busy times. We appreciate her assistance.
Tech Director, Keith Ahlvin, has reported the clean up in process in the basement. The Hammond organ has been moved to the main stage and will be checked over by Gig Crippes soon. Keith will be meeting with Joe Klinebriel soon to begin planning for the very ambitious PHANTOM staging and with Jeff Tebbe who will direct SINGIN' in the RAIN.
Our Marketing person, Megan Gloss is working with 12 restaurants in the downtown area to create Dinner & A Show discounts and coupons. She also discussed some excellent ideas for directing attention to younger persons. One of those is this blog. Another is a You Tube Channel: GrandOperaHouseDBQ. A video of Richie Cole with Five by Design is posted today.
In the future Paul will do video interviews with directors, actors, musicians, etc. to help promote Grand productions. They will be posted on You Tube and linked to our website, too. Paul reported that we now own the Adobe Design Suite that will allow us to make our own changes to the website rather than depending on Net-Smart to do this.
Paul also reported that we received $500 from a Boutin Grant with the Iowa Community Theater Association to replace at least 4 of our hearing assistance devices. Another grant has been written to Rotary Club of Dubuque to replace additional units.
The meeting adjourned shortly after 6:40pm. We all looking forward to the GREEN MAGIC SHOW tonight at 7:30pm.
