Latest news from CADS
March 2021 newsletter
(March 05, 2021)Finally! A new production!
We at CADS are quite excited to announce that we are actively considering entering a play for a drama festival this year! The festival in question is the Welwyn Drama Festival, which takes place between 17 and 22 May and which this year will be "virtual", i.e. will consist of filmed pieces broadcast via Zoom. There will be no prizes as such but there will be a professional adjudicator on hand to give their comments on each contribution.
The play we are considering is a brand new one-acter written by local writer Roy Maddox and designed specifically to be filmed via Zoom. Called Seven Movies, it revolves around a group of neighbours who decide to form a film club, partly to broaden their horizons and partly to give them a chance to get to know each other better. Each month one of them chooses a movie and everyone watches it at home before they all get together online to discuss it.
As the series of monthly meetings progresses, however, they (and we) learn a lot more about each of their neighbours than about their film choices, sometimes more than anyone really needed to know.
Our starting point for this will be an online reading of the play, to be held at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday 17 March to which anyone and everyone is welcome. This isn't an audition as such, but should give us an idea of whether or not it's feasible to go ahead with the idea, and give you an idea of the parts (as a rough guide, there are five female and three male roles) and whether you might be interested in getting involved. Or, of course, you could just come along for the fun of it! However, in order to set this up, we'll need your e-mail address, please, so that we can send out the necessary link and password. Contact [email protected] in the next few weeks to secure your place at the (virtual) table!
Zoom along to the AGM
Although we were forced by circumstances to cancel our Annual General Meeting in 2020, we've decided to go ahead with this year's meeting by holding the AGM online. It's the occasion when we get together to reflect on the past year's achievements, plan for the future, elect a new committee, and generally have a bit of a laugh! This year, we're meeting on Monday 12 April at 7.30 p.m. via the Zoom meeting app.
As always, this is your chance to ask questions, make suggestions and express opinions, as well as to vote in the new committee. (Remember that you're only eligible to vote if you're a paid-up member - see below for details!) Our current committee have (mostly) all indicated their willingness to stand again, but we could also, like all voluntary groups, do with some fresh faces on the committee and would encourage you all to at least think about putting yourselves forward - the committee generally meets once a month (currently via Zoom, of course) and meetings begin at 8.00. If we don't spend too much time chatting, they're normally over by about 9.00.
Most of the actual work of the committee gets done by the officers (Chair, Secretary, Treasurer) but we do rely on our "ordinary" members for their insight and their opinions on what we're doing, what we plan to do, and even what we should be doing instead! If you can spare an hour every month or so, do please let us know that you're interested.
As the AGM this year will be online, we do need your e-mail address, please, if you'd like to attend, so that we can send you the relevant link and password. Contact [email protected] any time within the next few weeks to ensure your place!
Help keep us afloat
This would normally be the time of year when our Treasurer starts to remind everyone about paying their subscription (our subscription year runs from March to February) but these are unusual times, and while the committee feel they should probably cough up themselves, with the lack of very much happening in the way of productions it would seem only reasonable to make payment voluntary this year. If you do feel like supporting us, you'll be helping us out in what continues to be a fallow period for box office takings! Even though we've not been performing, there are always expenses associated with the running of a group such as ours, including things like insurance. (It costs us about £1,500 a year just to exist!)
To remind you, full membership is £15 for the year (£10 for full-time students) and in a normal year this would entitle you to a free ticket for any one performance of any show we put on during that year (transferable to a family member or friend if desired); it would also entitle you to vote at the AGM should you wish to and it ensures that you're covered under the terms of our insurance policy when we are finally able to return to doing what we love: performing in front of a live audience...
You can pay your subs by card online by using the "Donate" button on the home page of our website, quoting the reference "Membership", or by bank transfer - the account name is CADS, the sort code is 40-39-22, and the account number is 91389149. Any problems or queries, please get in touch with [email protected]. Thank you.
Panto pix?
Some of our members took part recently in the "Window Walk" organised by Creative Royston, where householders were encouraged to put displays in their windows either of their own or their children's artwork or representing groups to which they belonged. Our Secretary used the occasion to project a slideshow of photographs from CADS shows over the past dozen or so years, but, in compiling it, discovered that there were some notable instances where no photographic record was available.
In particular, there are three pantomimes where we appear not to have any pictures, and yet there must be some out there, so we're appealing to anyone who might have photos of one or more of the shows listed below to get in touch, please, in any of the usual ways (through our Contact page or by e-mail to [email protected]). The relevant shows are:
- Jack and the Beanstalk (January 2020)
- Cinderella (January 2015)
- Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood (January 2014)
Photographs taken during a performance are always preferred, but we'd be grateful for anything relating to these shows that you might have. Thank you in advance.
And the winner is...
Finally, you probably can't have missed the news, given the amount of publicity it received, but we should record that, although we felt unable this year to present the Lizzie Houghton Award for youth drama, the Fred Sillence Award went to CADS Secretary Michael Young in acknowledgement of his work in helping to keep at least some form of drama-related activity going during a difficult year for the group.
Committee
Our next meeting is the AGM (see above) on Monday 12 April; the one after that has yet to be scheduled by the new committee, but if there's anything you'd like us to consider or discuss, please feel free to contact any of us at any time via the Contact page of this website!