November Newsletter

SIYT welcomes 12 new members following this year's auditions in late September. As always, the standard was high and the panel were left with tough decisions to make. We still have places available for 7 boys and it's likely that we will run an audition early in 2009 to try to fill these places.

As well as new members, we have a new chair in Chris Lewis and St. Ives Town Councillor Sarah Mead joins the committee as Community Representative. A big thank you to Sharon Whittington, who has left the SIYT committee after several years as our secretary.

Blood, Guts and Violence - but a great love story!

The weather and economic outlook might be grim, but SIYT's spring production is now in preparation to lift the gloom with Romeo and Juliet - probably the world's best known love story . Casting is now complete and rehearsals have begun (as you can see from the schedule above).

Our planned performance dates are Tuesday 3rd March - Saturday 7th March at a town centre venue in St. Ives. Performances are other venues in Huntingdonshire are also planned for Monday 9th March, Monday 16th March, Monday 23rd March, Monday 30th March. We are working on firming up venues and dates at the moment and will let you know as soon as these are confirmed.

There will be a stage fighting workshop for members on Thursday 13th November and we are in discussion with Pinewood Studios no less with regard to props for the production.

Rehearsals

Get a Word version of the Rehearsal Schedule - click here

Possible Fringe Benefits

We are actively planning for a week long run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2009. At this time, we are seeking funds and grants that will enable us to raise the £30,000 needed to take Vision to the festival. There is still a lot of work to do before we can confirm the detailed plan, but we would hope to be able to confirm our participation by the first week in December.

To make this possible, we will need the help and support of parents and friends - not only to raise the funds needed - to put together an extended team to deliver this production.

At this time, our plan would be to travel to Edinburgh on Saturday 8th August to setup for performances from Monday 10th August to Saturday 15th August. The likely cost to each member taking part would be between £220 - £270. Members that want to be part of the Festival production will also need to be available during the first week of the school holidays for rehearsals and a possible warm-up performance in Huntingdonshire.

As anyone involved in the Korczak production will tell you, it's a fantastic experience.

Fundraising

Good News - SIYT is more financially secure than Lehmann Brothers, but that's still not a great position! We need people that can help us with fundraising - we're not talking about the odd jumble sale, we desparately need some new ideas that can radically change our finacial position and spread the net on which we draw. Have contacts, have Ideas - Get Involved! Please drop us a line if you can make a difference.

Vision - St. Ives

A Big Thank you to everyone that helped make Vision a reality in St. Ives. As well as being a big hit with the punters, commercially we were more successful than we had hoped for - selling more programmes, raffle tickets and SIYT products than we have in the past. This meant that we only lost £1,650 on the production - this might sound grim but is actually a big step forward from recent years.

We are waiting for delivery of the first batch of DVDs and will despatch these to purchasers as soon as we have our sticky mitts on them.

Volunteers

Although SIYT is a limited company and a registered charity, it does not pay salaries or fees to anyone that helps to run the group - that includes Jonathan and Brian. The mad fools that you will see tearing their hair out during production week, do it all for free. Any help that anyone can offer is gratefully received - that might be in taking an ad in our programme, helping with front of house at a performance or dismantling the set after a show. All parents are welcome to help in any way they can - it's not a closed shop.

You’ve got our number – Why don’t you use it ?

07773 885609 - This is the dedicated telephone number for you to contact SIYT on Thursday Nights or Rehearsal Days to advise us of any delay in getting there or non attendance ~  please use this number.

Dates for the Diary

Next Committee Meeting - Wednesday 3rd December

Cabaret Evening - 23rd January 2009

Summer Production 2009 - Tom Sawyer (15th - 18th July 2009)

Finally…… Thanks for your support for our members and SIYT.