The 2010 - 2011 Board of Directors

Introducing the 2010-2011 Board of Director for Walterdale Theatre Associates:

Artistic Director - Kristen M. Finlay
President - Eric Rice
Vice President - Clare Mullen-Pearson
Secretary - Catherine Wenschlag
Treasurer - Monica Roberts
Past-President - Tim Marriott
Building Director - VACANT
Directors of FOH - Marsha Amanova and Mary Ellen Perley
Director of Membership - Ruby Swekla
Directors of Media - Amelia Amelia Maciejewski-Duplessis and May Kharaghani
Director of Productions - Pierre Valois
Technical Director - Richard Hatfield

With our illustrious Administrator - Kent Sutherland.

Please notice that the Building Director is Vacant. We are also looking for a second Director of Productions to work with Pierre Valois. If you are interested or have questions, please contact myself at adwalterdale2009@yahoo.ca and I will refer you to the appropriate person.

Season Meeting

Last night was our season meeting for the 2010-2011 Season. I cannot announce anything yet, but things are decided and as soon as we finalize show dates we can proceed with acquiring the rights. I am excited, as I like this next season as much as I like the current one, but in different ways. I think that it will offer some things that weren't offered this season and will also fulfill the needs of many of our members and audiences.

Be advised, the season selection is taken very seriously, by myself and by the rest of the Board. I cannot guess at how many scripts I read and agonized over and the amount of time it took me to decide on the final configuration. As for the Board, they were quite rigorous with everything last night and that is good for Walterdale.

Stay tuned!

Board Meeting Tonight

The December Board meeting is tonight. Lend Me a Tenor closed last night and now Beautiful Thing will move into the house. The season seems to be running along smoothly with few arising issues or snags. I would like to think that is due to good organization and thinking ahead instead of always being in debrief mode. The next thing on my list is constructing an audition notice for From Cradle to Stage. There will be a variety of roles for our membership to audition for but I really want to highlight the wonderful plays that will be up on our decks to attract people. It is hard with new works because the plays are not known, they are new, so people don't know what they are getting themselves into. One of the plays also one the Canada Peace Play competition this year, so you know it's got to be good. The other thing I am looking for/working on is submissions for the 2010-2011 Season. I have many submitted scripts that do not have assigned directors. I have very few directors submissions. I want more because the more choices I have, the better the season can be!

Celebrating Alberta Arts Days and Walterdale Theatre!

This past Saturday we held an Open House and our AGM. Both events were well-attended and went very well. The combination of the Farmer's Market (Art's Barns) and Earth Day Celebrations (Gazebo Park) created a lot of foot traffic through our community. As well, we had several dedicated members in costume going out with fliers to bring people into the building and then leading tours through our backstage areas. We estimated 100-200 people through the building, asking questions, finding out what we are all about and signing up for shows.

The AGM was also well attended. We had over 50 members in attendance. I am excited to announce the new Board of Directors:
President - Eric Rice
Vice President - Justen Bennett
Treasurer - Dave Wolkowski
Secretary - Prudence Olenik
Artistic Director - Kristen M. Finlay
Director of Public Relations - Marissa Loewen
Director of Productions - Kimberlee Stadelmann and Jim Draginda
Membership Director - Ruby Swekla
Building Director - John Henoch
Technical Director - Brent Jans
Directors of FOH - Catherine Wenschlag and Annelise Coutu

The second half of the evening was a lot of fun. Thank you to crew who helped present the season in music (Sally Hunt, Erin Foster-O'Riordan, Kimberlee Stadelmann, Ian Corry, Kristin Johnston, and Maria Harman). The Fun Awards were handed out, as well as the Outstanding Season Contribution Award (Kimberlee Stadelmann) and the Jack Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award (Pat Eyford).