STRETHAM PLAYERS CONSTITUTION

The Society shall be an amateur organisation known as Stretham Players and shall have for its objectives the furtherance of dramatic arts and the presentation of Stage Productions in Stretham. The Theatre Group shall hold a General Meeting annually in April. Notification from the Secretary of the date and time of the AGM shall be sent to members of the Group, with an agenda of the business to be conducted, at least fourteen days in advance of the meeting. The following are entitled to vote at an AGM: • A full (adult) member (excluding the Chair) has one vote • A parent/guardian of a youth member has one vote on behalf of that member. The Chair shall have a casting vote only if the number of members’ votes (for and against) are equal.

The business of the Theatre Group will be dealt with by a committee. All activities, financial or otherwise will be under the direction of this Committee. The Group shall appoint the Committee at its Annual General Meeting. The Committee will include the following Officers: - Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. It is acceptable for one person to fulfil more than one of these roles. There will also be other Committee members. The Committee shall have the power to co-opt additional members as required, and to invite individual members to attend a Committee meeting for a specific purpose. The total number of Committee members is a minimum of five and a maximum of eleven, excluding the Secretary.

The term of office of all Committee members will be one year. At the AGM following the year of office all the Committee members with the exception of the Secretary will resign. Following this the election of a new Committee will take place. The election will be presided over by the Secretary. Any member is eligible to stand for election to the Committee. To stand a member must be proposed and seconded by any other full adult member and then accept the proposal.

Once the election has taken place and between five and eleven Committee members have been elected the Secretary will resign. The new Committee will then choose, Chair, Treasurer and Secretary from their number.

At least four members of the Committee including the Chair will be required at any meeting to form a quorum. The only exception to this will be if a meeting is called to dismiss or appoint a committee member at a time other than the AGM. In this case five will be the required number to form a quorum.

Decisions of the Committee will be carried on a majority vote. In the event of votes being equal the Chair will have a casting vote.

Matters of finance shall be conducted through a Bank and all accounts shall be settled by cheque, petty cash, or BAC’s transfer. The maximum to be settled by petty cash shall be determined by the Committee. No accounts will be settled without the production of an acceptable receipt. Dual signing required for payments made by cheque by Stretham Players. There need to be three signatories on the bank account consisting of the Chair, the Treasurer and one other committee member, as agreed. Any two of the three signatories can sign cheques. For online payments, the Treasurer will make these payments with the agreement of other signatories. 

Non-acting personnel such as directors, musical directors, stage crew, chaperones, backstage and front-of-house helpers who are co-opted to help during the production period will become temporary members of the group, for insurance purposes, for the period that they are required to be on duty and working on behalf of the group.

Prior to any Production the Committee will appoint a director. The responsibility for producing all events will rest with the Committee and/or an appointed Producer.

The Director will take responsibility for all matters regarding the actors and rehearsals and liaise with the Stage Manager on the Technical requirements of the Production. At all times the Director will be given the full support of the Producer and/or the Committee or a quorum thereof.

Where possible the Director should also take the lead role in casting the Production and should chair any casting sub-committee. The Director's decision on casting will be given to the Producer for final approval and implementation. Having cast the Production no subsequent changes can be made to the cast without the agreement of both the Director and the casting committee. In the event of a disagreement between the Director and the Producer the Chairman of the Group will act as arbiter and if necessary, take the final decision.

All actors (and crew) requiring a script will buy scripts from the Committee at a price set by the Committee. Scripts will only be provided free-of-charge at the discretion of the Committee. Those people normally receiving a script free of charge will include the Director, the Stage Manager, the Musical Director, the Prompt and the Wardrobe Mistress.

No person may bring alcoholic drinks into rehearsal room areas, backstage areas or the changing room facilities during productions or rehearsals. If non-alcoholic drinks are required during these sessions, they should be purchased in advance of the session start time to allow the sessions to start promptly, but under no circumstances should they be taken onto the stage. Only stage crew are excluded from this rule where they will be allowed to have a plastic bottle of water.

During rehearsal and performance sessions all members of the group should ensure that their mobile phones are turned off and are not used during these times so as not to disrupt the smooth running of the rehearsal or interfere with sound equipment. Unless authorised by the Director, the only persons who will be permitted to have their mobiles on during the rehearsal sessions are the Director and the Stage Manager, or their designees.

The Committee will have the power to deal with any matter not covered in this Constitution.

The Stretham Players Constitution will be reviewed and can only be altered at the Annual General Meeting with the agreement of the majority of the members present at the meeting. If no revisions are required, then the Secretary should propose a vote that the existing Constitution should be readopted.