2023 One Act Play Festival

Our beloved Roosevelt Recreation Centre is once again open for business! That’s right, a 2-year long journey has been completed.

We thought it best to get straight back into the rhythm of things before the Festive season starts and invite all prospective directors and scriptwriters to submit their entries for the 2023 One Act Festival by the 14th of January 2023.

Rule of thumb for choosing a play:

• Plays must be between 35 – 45 minutes long.

• English dialogue.

• 3 or more speaking characters in the play.

• PG13

• Email all entries to: comms@franklin.org.za

One Act Festival Auditions will be held at the Roosevelt Park Recreation Centre Hall.

• Sun 22 January @ 14h00

• Monday 23 January @ 19h30.

• Keep an eye on our social media groups for updates and registering for the January auditions.

Festival Dates:

• Friday 24th March

• Saturday 25th March

• Friday 31st March

Franklin’s Awards Gala will take place on Saturday 1st of April 2023.

2022 AGM

Our 2022 AGM held on the 3rd December was a great success, thank you to everyone that took the time out of their day to attend.

2022 AGM Chairperson Report

Welcome to our members and my fellow committee member’s. On behalf of the committee, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to be here today. It is the ongoing support from everyone in this room that keeps Franklin going.

The last time we were able to have an AGM in this format was 2019. At the end of 2020, the AGM was held over zoom due to the pandemic, and as a result of having no active Franklin members for 2021, an informal AGM was held with only the committee members.

Today, I am very excited to be standing in front of you as the acting chairperson for 2022 to deliver this year’s report.

We started off slowly this year due to the COVID restrictions we still faced off the back of the pandemic that threw the performing arts off course. We were limited to how many people could be present for performances and still had strict protocols in place – like mandatory face masks – that made acting difficult. This, along with the renovations that took place here at the rec centre, made it near impossible for us to get the Franklin ball rolling again.

Nevertheless, it is thanks to the incredibly dedicated committee members who worked tirelessly during the second quarter of the year that we were able to start putting in place ways to revive Franklin – and that, we did. With the help of the members, we revived the old girl.

At the beginning of the year, the Franklin committee consisted of only 4 people following the resignation of Els, the chairperson from 2020 – the end of 2021. As vice chair, I fulfilled the role of chairperson for 2022. At the start of the second quarter, Hennie and Monica were seconded to the committee, and we are forever indebted to them for being so willing and ready to jump on board in what was arguably the toughest year faced by Franklin. Brandon resigned from the committee after the One Act Play Festival.

As previously alluded to, our biggest hurdle this year was the renovations done at our home space. They were started in 2021 and were due to be completed at the beginning of this year. However, that was not the case, and a completion date was provided to us – 1 July 2022. Unfortunately, the renovations have only recently been completed. As a result of these renovations, we had to find alternative spaces to rehearse and perform if we were to get Franklin up and running again. Despite the frustrations around this, we are incredibly excited to report that the renovations have resulted in revamped change rooms: the change rooms and passageway have been detailed and painted and there are new light fittings. The stage and hall have also been sanded and varnished. We are looking forward to being back in our home space next year.

Report back on 2022 Productions

One Act Play Festival 2022

Our annual One Act Play Festival was the only production we were able to host this year.

The rehearsals took place at the SAVF Claremont over the course of June/ July. Despite late night rehearsals amidst rolling blackouts thanks to Eskom, we were able to put together 5 spectacular entries from Franklin. The other entries were external productions: two from EADS, one from Protea and one from Parktown High School for Girls.

We were in need of a stage on which to perform these plays and so Hennie and Sone approached the heads at Laerskool Louw Geldenhuys in Linden to see if they would be willing to let us rent their hall for the festival. It was important for us to keep the performance venue close to our home space. The school agreed, and so we were able to showcase our talent by hosting the festival over the weekends of 29 -30 July and 5th – 6th August.

The festival was adjudicated by three people, namely, Donovan Arentsen, Michael da Silva and Danielle Retief – a well-known South African Actress and Television personality.

On the final evening of the festival, the top three plays – two of which were Franklin plays – performed for a second time for the final adjudication. The runners up were ‘It could have been Worse’ by Protea and ‘Thee Final Dress Rehearsal’ by Franklin. The winning play of the 2022 festival was ‘Pinata’ written by Scott Mulan and directed by Katy Stewart. All of the Franklin members made us incredibly proud as a whole host of awards came home with us.

Once again, the committee and I would like to thank all the participants, and fellow amateur drama societies as well as the many people in the background who assisted in creating yet another successful One Act Play festival.

I feel it is also important to note some of the projects we have been working on and outside of the productions:

1.Committee meetings
The committee meets once a month, either in person or on zoom, to present our financial position and discuss and plan in detail of the productions and plans for the year.

2. The Newsletter
During each meeting, time is also allocated to communicating with our members. Staying in contact with the members is something Franklin prides itself on. The newsletter serves as a way to stay in contact with our members and patrons; keep everyone up-to-date as to the plans for the year, and also to distribute information as to the happenings of our sister societies.

3.Active social media presence on all platforms – Facebook, and Instagram
The portfolio of social media is handled by Sone. This has also become an important communication tool for us and it gives our followers an inside look at the audition, rehearsal, and production aspect of our amateur theatre. Sone has been incredible at keeping these platforms fun and fresh and we have had an amazing response from the community. The stats for the social media platforms are as follows:

Facebook: 563 followers

Instagram: 841 followers

4. Workshops
Based on the country’s climate over the past couple of years, we have not been able to host the number of workshops we would have liked to. We did, however, host a basic acting workshop this year before the audition process for the One Act Play Festival, and Hennie hosted a directing workshop with the festival directors. Now that renovations at the rec centre are complete, we are very excited to get back into the swing of planning workshops and hopefully get some guest speakers to present to the members and other interested community members

5.JOC (Joint Operations Committee) compliance from City of Johannesburg
This continues to be a huge drain on our finances as well as time ensuring compliance, however, at this stage we have no option but to comply.
JOC is a requirement of the 2010 Sports and Recreation Act, and the city’s municipal by-laws which requires all events to make a JOC application to be able receive approval for the running of their event. This act has started being enforced a lot more rigidly and thus we need to become compliant.
The costs of JOC – which are fixed costs and we need to pay irrelevant of whether or not we make an income are as follows:
– Each floor plan approval is R 300.00
– Each inspection by EMS prior to the event is R 1580 per event totalling R 4740 per annum
– Public Liability cover (Which Franklin has taken out to the value of R 1, 500, 00) Annual premium of R 6230
– Medical emergency personnel on site for all shows have negotiated a reduced price from Mibern Medics of R 3000 per production – Totalling R 9000 per annum.

Thus we are faced with a total cost of R 20,270.00 before we even start the year

The Rec Centre has assisted us with a reduced rental of R 561 per month instead of R 1200 which creates a rental saving of approx. R 7668 per annum.

It still must be determined what the rental cost will be for next year and we are hoping to be able to find a loophole with regards to JOC so that we can keep performing in our home venue. The other option, which we will have to turn to should we not find a loophole with JOC, is to rent out school halls for the productions. In this way, we do not need to pay JOC because the schools have already done so ahead of their various public events. We will keep the members of Franklin up to date on this as details become available.

In conclusion, I think it is evident from my report that despite the huge, seemingly insurmountable challenges that we have faced this year – and indeed since early in 2020 – Franklin has continued to blossom. An incredible amount of work has gone into ensuring that Franklin remains strong in its 60th year of existence; and to ensure that the foundations remain strong so that we can continue to expect great things in the next 60 years and beyond.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the committee, Wendy, Sone, Monika and Hennie, for their immeasurable contributions to Franklin – time, energy, and monetary. As a result of this, we are proud to have been able to ensure that we enter into 2023 in a strong financial position, which you will see in the financial report to follow. The members of the 2022 committee have worked cohesively with the sole purpose of furthering the goals and aspirations of Franklin Players. It has been an honour to lead you this year.

With that, it is time for me to state my official resignation from the Franklin Players committee. I have been a member of the Franklin Players for 6 years and have served on the committee for 4 years. As a result of my being the Vice Chairperson for 2021, I became the acting chairperson upon the resignation of Els de Bundel at the 2021 AGM. Due to there not having been an official AGM and voting process, I was required to temporarily fill the role as chairperson. I have loved being able to serve the members of Franklin, but with work commitments, I am not able to fully commit my energy to serving on the committee and as such, do not feel it is fair on the other committee members, nor on the members at large for me to stay on.

Wendy Brehm has also elected to step down from the committee this year. She has been a member of Franklin for 13 years and served on the committee for 12 years, of which she was secretary for 6 years. On behalf of all of Franklin’s stakeholders, I would like to thank you for all the time and effort spent serving. The experience you brought to the table, helped us out of many challenging situations. I hope that you will stay invested in Franklin and finally be able to enjoy some shows as a true member of the audience.

To the new chairperson, to be elected later this morning, and the incoming committee, I wish you the best of luck for 2023 and beyond. We look forward to another successful year of The Franklin Players.

TESS DOUST

CHAIRPERSON

THE FRANKLIN PLAYERS COMMUNITY THEATRE