June 2010

Hi Everyone
Greetings from a very sunny but very cold and extremely damp underfoot day in Napier. Boy
haven’t we experienced some rain around the country? My thoughts go out to those who were
 in production over the weekend and had to deal with getting to and from rehearsals or performances.
I am sure that there are many stories to be told especially from around the Otago/ South Canterbury areas.
Dale and I decided to have a couple of weekend breaks away in April /May and thought it would be great to
attend some of the MTNZ member society shows around the North Island. ‘Curtains’ at Porirua Little Theatre
was the first stop then on to Wellington for WMT’s production of ‘Miss Saigon’. The second weekend away
saw us head north to Papakura for the opening night of ‘Spamalot’ then across to Tauranga the following day to see their
production of ‘Miss Saigon’ In between these weekends away we also managed to attend Theatre Hawkes Bay’s ‘Take a Chance on Me’  
and Napier Operatic’s ‘The Wedding Singer’.

Over 1600 kms travelled in all and every show was well worth attending. It was great to meet up with likeminded MTNZ
individuals who also travelled to see these productions we thoroughly enjoyed your company. My special thanks to Wellington Musical
Theatre, Theatre Hawkes Bay, Napier Operatic, Papakura Theatre Company and Tauranga Musical Theatre for their most generous
hospitality not only shown to Dale and I but also to other members of MTNZ Executive and their partners who travelled to see these
productions. To those member societies who continue to host myself, Lesley the MTNZ Vice President and our zone representatives
and administrator as they travel around the country at their own cost, a huge thank you, we cannot thank you often enough!

Nearly half way through the year already and almost three months since our AGM in Auckland however your Executive have been
steadily working through issues that have come to our attention and advice sought, and have been providing advice to a number of
individual member societies on how best to deal with these issues as they have arisen . Planning for AGM/Conference 2011 is ongoing
and some new ideas for seminars and forums are being looked into and will be discussed at our mid year meeting in Hamilton in July 
A couple of zone meetings are scheduled to take place within the next few weeks and I encourage as many of you to attend these
meetings as possible. Zone meetings are open to all of your membership not just those on your executive and the zone representatives
are there to hear your thoughts and concerns and to give or seek advice on your behalf. Wishing you every success with upcoming
productions.  Keep warm and dry if you can!

 Ian Reid - President