Noosa Arts Theatre

Volunteers Thank You Party

 

Saturday, May 21, 2011 

The Invitation:

The Committee of Noosa Arts Theatre invited all members to a supper cocktail party to honour our wonderful and unselfish volunteers who give their time so willing on so many occasions each year to ensure each and every production is of the highest standard.

This year included the Second Annual Rod Taylor Memorial Flower Pot Award for the person "who best embodies the spirit of volunteering" (a sort of 'Volunteer of the Year').  There were several less serious 'Certificates', plus entertainment from Simon Russell-Baker and Dale Pengelly.  For those who did not know Rod, he was the man in the wheelchair out the front selling programmes; a dedicated volunteer with a smile and a friendly word for everyone...well, nearly everyone.

Flower Pot graphic

 

The Presentation Evening:

The Committee hosted the evening as a way of saying “thank you” to all you willing helpers. It may have been said many times before, but it is all too true – we couldn’t have done it without you – so give yourselves a big round of applause, why not a standing ovation!

 

The Rod Taylor Memorial Flower Pot Award:

Why the Flower Pot Award?  Well, in 1990 I had been cast in one of the finalist plays of the One-Act Playwriting Competition.  It was a 2-hander, 1 male, 1 female.  The play was something of a dramatic thriller, in which the man had a history of killing his dates (I know, I was typecast!).  The woman was meant to be wraith-like, so that the audience would be kept guessing whether she was the latest date or the ghost of a previous date looking for revenge.  Stop laughing, it was a drama! The originally cast female (let’s call her Actress 1) was physically and vocally perfect, but was facing drugs charges, so an understudy was sought (let’s call her Actress 2).  As the performances drew near, so did the court date of Actress 1 and there was no guarantee she would be available to perform.  So Actress 2 stepped in...and so did the mother of Actress 2.  Mother obviously thought she knew better than both the author and the director as she decided to dress Actress 2 as a cross between Shirley Temple and Minnie Mouse, all bows and bright colours.  Mother also thought it was a comedy.  Anyway, come performances (there were only 3 in those days) and the first night we both dropped lines and only just made it through to something resembling the end.  However, Actress 2 blamed me for the fiasco.  Also in those days the acting awards were judged on the first night (who thought of that? Some sadistic director no doubt!), and the adjudicator was a professional actor who just happened to be a friend of Actress 2’s family, so she won the Best Actress Award.  The prize was an enormous terracotta vase/pot with a painted frieze; to which Rod took an instant dislike.  The following performance was only saved by someone plugging in a hairdryer and shorting out the whole theatre, which gave us time to work out where we were in the script before continuing.  Again Actress 2 blamed me.  On the last night Actress 2 jumped 5 pages and when given a direct cue jumped the same 5 pages.  I had left my script at home that night, so after the performance raced home to check that, in fact, I was right and Actress 2 was wrong.  Rod and I got back to the theatre to see Director and Actress 2 in the middle of a shouting match over who was to blame for the dropped lines, when Rod walked up to Actress 2 and said, “You’ve got your @#$%^&* flower pot, what more do you want?”

For several years after that moment Rod would award his own flower pots (the smallest seedling pots he could find) to anyone he thought had done a good job in a production.  They became highly prized and many were miffed that they missed out.  And so we come to tonight and the start of a new era in Flower Pot Awards!

 Stephen Moore

 

Certificates:

The following certificates were arranged broadly into 5 categories – Zealousness (those ever eager volunteers, just bursting out of their skins to help), Blooper Worthy (pretty self explanatory really), Efficiency (those who always get it right – bastards!), Xtrm Sports (those on the very edge of danger), and Newbies (for the new comers showing the most promise).

 

The nominations for the category of Zealousness were:

  1. Dirk Van Der Wiel – enthusiastically demolishing set…even when parts were not meant to be.
  2. Colin Smith – Master of Trickery…as in props!
  3. Julie Lawson – cheekiest, most willing and versatile FOH

And the Certificate went to:        JULIE LAWSON

 

The nominations for the category of Blooper Worthy were:

  1. Colin Smith – Judges Award – for sitting down on the job…and in the wet paint
  2. Nelson Tomlin – Avon Calling Award – those pesky sound cues in Influence…bing bong.
  3. Sam Coward – Beacon Lighting Award – whose on first?

And the Certificate went to:        COLIN SMITH

Unfortunately, Colin couldn't attend the evening (did he have a premonition?).

 

The nominations for the category of Efficiency were:

  1. George Courtney – always helpful and going out of his way to make everything just right
  2. Janet Perry-Watson – a dream to work with. Never does a thing wrong…how boring!
  3. Trish Francis – getting stuck right into Box Office

And the Certificate went to:        GEORGE COURTNEY 

 

The nominations for the category of Xtrme Sprts were:

  1. Denis Dacey – The Multiple Homeowner Homeless Award – always at the ready…whenever, wherever, set building, bar, t-shirt wearing!
  2. Andrew Thomson – Seat of the Pants Award – for Stage Managing the Flood Relief Concert with no rehearsal
  3. Larraine Browne – who knew ‘bar manager’ was a poisoned chalice?

And the Certificate went to:        DENIS DACEY 

 

The nominations for the category of Newbie were:

  1. Carol Lea – FOH ‘duty manager’ in the making award
  2. Gary Grant – Medusa Head Award…the only one who know what all those leads are for!
  3. Nia Quayle – re-born newbie award, coming back

And the Certificate went to:        GARY GRANT 

 

Flower Pot Award

The Second Annual Rod Taylor Memorial Flower Pot Award:

 

The nominations were:

  1. Larraine Browne – for taking on the Bar manager job (Rod’s favourite haunt) while going through the painful process of applying for the commercial licence!  
  2. Trish Francis – Above and Beyond generous!
  3. Julie Lawson – the most irreverent and versatile FOH/Bar/BOH volunteer

And the award went to:     TRISH FRANCIS 

Unfortunately, Trish couldn't attend the evening as she was visiting family in the USA. 

 

For making all this possible, thank you:

  • The Committee of Noosa Arts Theatre
  • SMB
  • Those working on the night
    • FOH and Bar
    • Joe Jurisevic and Gary Grant in the bio box
    • Susan Dearnley as Stage Manager, and
    • Members of the Committee for the catering
  • The performers who entertained us all:
    • Simon Russel-Baker
    • Dale Pengelly

 Some comments from those who attended:

  • A wonderful evening Steve...Rod would have loved it!    Viv xxx
  • Stephen, Just wanted to let you know what a great time we had last night and to thank you and your helpers for making it so.  I am sure everyone there enjoyed themselves and the entertainment was, of course, first class.  Congratulation!  Rod would have loved it all.
    Margaret
  • Hi everyone
    I'd just like to say how much we enjoyed last night, so thanks to everyone who put in the effort - Stephen was fabulous, and the entertainment was outstanding.  Sitting there looking at the presentation of the stage, and the evening's program made me feel proud to part of the NAT community - what we have today is the culmination of so many years of labour and love on the part of so many good people, some still with us, some of whom have moved on.
    ........ and in the words of that (famous?) man - "I'll be back"!
    Cheers
    Carole

 All photographs courtesy of Susan Dearnley.