Stage One
Submitted By:Brian Gould
12/1/2009
Program and Managers: Dan Shuy, Dawson Nichols
Service provided to students by this program: Creative outlet for the Dramatic Arts
Completed answers to questionnaire:
- Where do your funds come from? Please list all major sources.
Stage One Theater and the Theater Department receive funds from a number of sources. Through your Student Fee Board and occasional UTF Grants we receive funds from the Student Government, but we also receive funds from NSCC’s Humanities Division, the President’s Office, and Box Office receipts. We also occasionally apply for funding from other sources (Ed Fund Grants, for instance). As you know, we used to get a substantial amount of our funding from NSCC’s General Instructional Budget. These funds went toward the Technical Director’s salary. Last year that funding was removed, due to budget cuts, and so we transferred the vast majority of our funds from the Student Fee Board to partially cover this loss. We are currently working with the administration to have General Instructional Budget funds reinstated.
- What are the major funding categories and expenses for your program?
Salaries, Supplies & Materials, Printing, Equipment, Repairs & Maintenance.
- How do you get feedback from, students, peers and yourself to assess your program?
We have daily communication with students involved in our productions and classes. Since other faculty and staff members often take part in Stage One productions, we get feedback from them as well. Audiences give feedback for all of our productions as well. Finally, our faculty and staff undergo formal periodic reviews from administration and through student evaluations.
- What methods do you use to assess your program and how do you use assessment to continuously improve or to address changing needs of the students you serve?
We keep track of our statistics (attendance & receipts) for every production and use these to understand how our programming choices work for our population. We invite everyone involved in productions to come to post mortems in order to learn how to improve the process. We have ongoing daily communication with involved students, faculty, and staff; monthly staff meetings; and quarterly meetings with administration and other constituents. We have communication with similar departments around Washington state, both informally and through the American College Theater Festival. We utilize all of this to improve our choice of poductions, workshops, classes, and the foci of Advanced Acting Courses. We also talk with campus members more generally in order to identify current topics and subject matter so that our productions will be pertinent to other classes and on campus events.
- What major goals or direction do you have for your program?
As we move forward, our program has two main goals. First, we are embracing new technologies and moving toward a much broader view of performance as an art that exists in various forms. We are not abandoning live theater, but we are redirecting our courses and our students so that their live performance skills can be deployed in different media –audio, video, gaming, internet, etc. This feeds into our second goal, which is to make NSCC theater more integrated into the different communities in which we take part. We seek to make our live theater a resource for the campus, but we also want to empower our students to take part in larger communities – through Seattle theaters, through SCCTV, through Rainier Radio, through the internet.
- What would you prioritize if faced with limited funds?
Nothing is more important than our staff because they are the ones who support students and help them succeed. Salaries, therefore, are our priority. Along these same lines, we also want to maintain the ability to hire outside directors and designers so that students can learn from people with different aesthetics and skill sets.
- What would you tell all students about your program to get them involved?
The skills one learns in theater are skills that readily transfer into many other areas of life and work. We teach confidence, effective communication, and how to tap your own creativity. We also practical skills such as carpentry, electronics, and design. These are skills that students will be able to use in other courses and their lives more generally.
- How do you collaborate with campus departments, programs and people?
Increased collaboration is part of our mission going forward, and in the past year alone we have collaborated with SCCTV, Rainier Radio, ABE/ESL, English, Business, Communication, Social Sciences, Student Services, the Education Fund, The Polaris, and more. We are all about effective communication, so it makes sense that we would be so collaborative. We do this through one-on-one connections with people in these areas that lead to collaborative projects. Sometimes we go to them with ideas for video production or theater pedagogy that would be good for ESL students, sometimes they come to us with ideas for radio projects or a need for an emcee.
- How does your program support North’s mission statement and core values?
Everything we do changes lives through education – not just for those participating, but for audience members. We choose our productions in order to expose students to issues and raise awareness about topics current in education and culture.
- How does your program impact student success and retention?
Our work study program allows many students to stay at NSCC who might otherwise not be able to do so. Our students gain the confidence and skills – and the motivation – to assist them in other classes. We create community in our productions and in our green room, and our students naturally come to support one another.
Additionally, we assist our students in transitioning out of NSCC and into the working world. In the past year alone we have had students working as paid performers in local musicals, plays, and play readings; students working in local films; students being paid technicians at three local professional theaters.
Finally, we support the Performance Club, the Video Club, and the Dance Club on campus.
- How do you accommodate students with different needs such as: students with disabilities, students from different ethnic, cultural, and financial backgrounds and veterans? Please provide examples.
We are committed to sharing theater with any student who expresses an interest. We have had students in wheel chairs, students with learning and reading disabilities, students in dependence recovery programs, students with children, and many more who require special attention. We are able to individualize instruction and production work in order to give every student appropriate tasks to ensure their success. We are able to assist some students financially through work-study and student employment. We also offer scholarships (when we have the funds) to assist students in financial need.
- Besides funding how could student leadership help your program succeed?
We can always use help with publicity. We would love to see support of the Polaris – both because a student information outlet is generally a good idea, but also because the Polaris usually covered and promoted our productions. Finally, we would love to see student leaders involved in Stage One activities.
- How does your program address sustainability?
We are committed to sustainability. The main impact we have is in reusing everything – usually more than once. When we take down a show we save everything we can – down to screws and nails – for use in future productions. What we can’t reuse ourselves we recycle. We even donate our sawdust to Facilities – they use it to clean up spills.
Along with this questionnaire we are including some support documents for your information. We include budget information, production statistics, and a sampling of the workshops we have offered in the past few years. If you need anything further, please let us know.
Thank you for your consideration.
NSCC Theater Department
Below is our final budget from last year. We ended the year under budget, which allowed us to purchase materials in advance for this year. We knew that the majority of our budget was going to go toward Dan’s salary, so we purchased plywood, paint, and other materials that we knew we could use in this year’s productions.
| NSCC Stage One Theatre | Date:_________________ | |||
| 2008-09 Budget Report, 264-3P02 | ||||
| EXPENSES | REVENUE | |||
| ALLOCATIONS | $ 14,680.00 | $ (4,800.00) | ||
| September Credit Card | $ 1,274.57 | $ 13,405.43 | ||
| September Invoice Vouchers | $ 238.78 | $ 13,166.65 | ||
| October Credit Card- returns | $ (12.92) | $ 13,179.57 | ||
| October Credit Card- purchases | $ 1,175.15 | $ 12,004.42 | ||
| November Credit Card | $ 637.18 | $ 11,367.24 | ||
| November Invoice Vouchers | $ 118.20 | $ 11,249.04 | ||
| Chris Bennion Photography- Twilight | $ 250.00 | $ 10,999.04 | ||
| Revenue, Fall “Twilight, Los Angeles” | $ 1,370.00 | $ (3,430.00) | ||
| December Credit Card | $ 215.83 | $ 10,783.21 | ||
| December Invoice Voucher | $ 275.00 | $ 10,508.21 | ||
| January Credit Card | $ 1,026.86 | $ 9,481.35 | ||
| February Invoice Vouchers | $ 276.53 | $ 9,204.82 | ||
| February Credit Card | $ 892.91 | $ 8,311.91 | ||
| Revenue, Winter “Gargoyle” | $ 835.00 | $ (2,595.00) | ||
| March Invoice Vouchers | $ 615.60 | $ 7,696.31 | ||
| March Credit Card | $ 930.83 | $ 6,765.48 | ||
| April Credit Card | $ 2,174.24 | $ 4,591.24 | ||
| May Credit Card- purchases | $ 1,650.84 | $ 2,940.40 | ||
| May Credit Card- returns | $ (18.62) | $ 2,959.02 | ||
| May Invoice Vouchers | $ 1,604.56 | $ 1,354.46 | ||
| Revenue, Spring “As You Like It” | $ 1,014.00 | $ (1,581.00) | ||
| Revenue, Spring “Stop, Start” | $ 327.00 | $ (1,254.00) | ||
| June Credit Card | $ 888.90 | $ 465.56 | ||
| June Invoice Vouchers | $ 167.58 | $ 297.98 | ||
| TOTAL BUDGET | ||||
| Balance Forward, Un-used Salaries &Benes | $ 2,060.00 | |||
| Remaining Budget Monies | $ 1,103.98 | |||
Below is our production budget for last year’s final production, As You Like It. We provide this so that you can see the level of detail at which we track our expenditures – allocating funds by unit for each production and sticking to these amounts. The Spring show has always been our most elaborate – the budgets for the other productions are substantially less.
| Stage One Theatre 2008-2009 Production Expenditures | Date:______________ | ||||
| Spring Production: As You Like It | |||||
| Date | Type | Expenditure Description | IV | CC | Alloc/Rem |
| Scenery | $ 1,200.00 | ||||
| 3/26/2009 | CC | Display/ Costume: Colorants | $ 51.53 | $ 1,148.47 | |
| 3/26/2009 | CC | PNTA: Fabrics- foliage | $ 127.34 | $ 1,021.13 | |
| 3/30/2009 | CC | Home Depot: blades and paint | $ 46.56 | $ 974.57 | |
| 3/31/2009 | CC | Lowes: poplar and paint | $ 25.17 | $ 949.40 | |
| 4/2/2009 | CC | FedEx/ Kinkos: Large copies | $ 10.95 | $ 938.45 | |
| 4/15/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Lumber | $ 438.48 | $ 499.97 | |
| 4/23/2009 | CC | Lowes: Lumber and sheet stock | $ 310.08 | $ 189.89 | |
| 4/24/2009 | CC | PNTA: Paint, Trick line | $ 68.93 | $ 120.96 | |
| 5/10/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Set Supplies | $ 89.59 | $ 31.37 | |
| $ 1,168.63 | $ 31.37 | ||||
| Costumes | $ 1,500.00 | ||||
| 5/20/2009 | IV | Pete Rush: Receipts | $ 1,354.56 | $ 145.44 | |
| Lighting | 0.00 | ||||
| 4/28/2009 | CC | PNTA: Christmas Lights | $ 13.14 | (13.14) | |
| 5/7/2009 | CC | PNTA: Lighting Gel | $ 82.13 | (95.27) | |
| 5/8/2009 | CC | PNTA: RETURNS | $ (18.62) | (76.65) | |
| $ 76.65 | $ (76.65) | ||||
| Properties | $ 500.00 | ||||
| 4/15/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Puppet parts | $ 11.40 | $ 488.60 | |
| 4/20/2009 | CC | Target: Misc. Props items | $ 41.69 | $ 446.91 | |
| 4/21/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Table cloth | $ 10.93 | $ 435.98 | |
| 4/28/2009 | CC | Fabrics: Puppet Stage | $ 52.43 | $ 383.55 | |
| 4/28/2009 | CC | Office Depot: Duke’s Chair | $ 123.64 | $ 259.91 | |
| 4/29/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Puppet Stage | $ 74.43 | $ 185.48 | |
| 4/30/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Puppet Stage | $ 16.83 | $ 168.65 | |
| 5/10/2009 | CC | Walgreen’s: Batteries and bandana | $ 18.58 | $ 150.07 | |
| 5/12/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Magic Table | $ 44.15 | $ 105.92 | |
| $ 394.08 | $ 105.92 | ||||
| Scripts | $ 50.00 | ||||
| 1/12/2009 | CC | Amazon.com: Script copies | $ 50.61 | $ (0.61) | |
| Misc. | $ 700.00 | ||||
| IV | Bob MacDougall; Combat | $ 400.00 | $ 300.00 | ||
| 5/10/2009 | IV | Chris Bennion; Photography | $ 250.00 | $ 50.00 | |
| 5/15/2009 | CC | Cast Photos | $ 7.94 | 42.06 | |
| $ 657.94 | 42.06 | ||||
| Total Allocations | $ 3,950.00 | ||||
| Remaining Allocations | $ 247.53 | ||||
Below is a list of box office revenue by show for the past several years. Please note that the numbers for the current production are only for the first two of three weeks.
Fall 2009
It’s Not In the P.I.; 5 performances to date (4 remaining); 604 audience, $2847 gate receipts so far.
Spring 2009
As You Like It; 6 performances (3 cancelled due to cast illness); 286 audience, $1063 gate
Winter 2009
John Lennon’s Gargoyle; 9 performances, 291 audience, $830 gate
Fall 2008
Twilight; Los Angeles 1992; 9 performances, 436 audience, $1370 gate
Spring 2008
The Imaginary Invalid; 8 performances, 354 audience, $1494 gate.
Winter 2008
The Don Juan Cult Concerto; 8 performances, 208 audience, $622 gate
Fall 2007
Lanford Wilson One Acts, 8 performances, 250 audience, $1122 gate
Spring 2007
What the Butler Saw; 8 performances, 324 audience, $1532 gate.
Winter 2007
Human Borders; 8 performances, 429 audience, $ 2028 gate.
Fall 2006
Hold Please, 8 performances, 407 audience, $ 1939 gate.
Spring 2006
Laundry and Bourbon, Lone Star; 9 performances, 324 audience, $1224 gate.
W. 2006
Scapin; 9 performances, 521 audience, $1829 gate.
Fall 2005
I Hate Hamlet (Diane’s swan song); 5 performances, 365 audience, $1786 gate.
What would you like to see changed about this program?
From my interviews with both Dan Shuy and Dawson Nichols I get the impression that the school doesn’t take the program seriously. Administration sees the program as a money operation and not an educational tool. The success of “It’s Not in the P-I” is encouraging, but the truth of the matter is the department cannot hit a homerun with every production they produce, and that’s not their goal. If the school’s administration compares the P-I production to the upcoming play, “The Rover” the administration will be disappointed with attendance. This is not because the upcoming production will lack professionalism or educational value, it’s mainly because “It’s Not in the P-I” had the “perfect storm” of a quality production, good timing, and great publicity. However the goal of Stage One is not to get rich, it’s to impact students through education. The biggest problem with Stage One is the communication between Administration and Stage One. I don’t feel Dan and Dawson know what the Administration wants from them, and vice versa. This applies to all Art programs at North Seattle, not just Stage One.
From my observation of Stage One’s budget, and needs; Stage One is not selfish in what they are asking for. They are content of what they are doing, and they feel they are doing a good job. A major problem facing both the Fee board and Stage One is Dan Shuy’s salary. Dan’s salary needs to come from a different source, maybe not this year, but eventually. The problem with cutting Dan’s salary out of the equation is, if Dan goes, so does Stage One. Dawson and Dan rely on each other, without one they cannot run Stage One to its full potential. Cutting or killing Dan’s salary would be the equivalent of cutting the basketball team’s funding. Having said that there are not any major financial changes that Stage One needs at this time, short term changes would be better communication with administration, long term finding new sources for Dan Shuy’s salary.
How would you recommend those changes are implemented?
This is a difficult question because I don’t know the exact solution for the changes that need to be made. I don’t know the nature of the exact nature of the administration’s view point, having only heard half of the argument. The best solution I can think of to at least figure out what the problems are would be to have a mutual meeting with Dan, Dawson, and the Administration. If they were to sit down together and hatch out a general agreement as to what they want, and need from each other, this would allow both sides to know exactly what needs to happen, and no one will be in the dark. If the administration tells Stage One that they are on the chopping block, Dan and Dawson would at least know that. Right now they are both in the dark. I will get the ball rolling with a plan when I present my research on Stage One, and get feedback from the group, as to what the next step should be, but at this time I feel a sit down with the two groups would be a great start.
As for Dan’s salary, I think right now, the student fee board needs to continue to support Dan for the time being, but come up with a “exit plan” for figuring out a future source for Dan’s salary. As I said though, if the fee board eliminates Dan’s salary, and Dan has to leave, we are essentially killing Stage One. From my recollection our orientation in August, it’s impossible to kill a program in one year, but eliminating Dan’s salary might just do the trick. This would be bad; not only from an educational stand point, but the fee board would have to answer to a lot of angry drama students. I don’t want this, and I don’t think anyone on the board does. So we need to come up with a plan for Dan’s salary, I suggest we foot the bill once again, if they request that, but begin to put conditions on it. I’m also going to talk to administration about finding a source for Dan’s salary; as I believe he is a employee of the school, and not a helping hand around stage one. He has been at North Seattle for almost 20 years, and to let him go like that would not only be senseless, it would be an economic disaster for stage one, and the school, because without Dan, the production value goes down, and the school sees stage one as a money venture so less money comes into the gate, because of worse productions. Sorry for that last run-run-run-run on sentence. Thank you.
Written and Approved by Brian Gould
Brian Gould
Program and Managers: Stage 1 @ North Seattle Community College, Dan Shuy, Dawson Nichols
Service provided to students by this program: Creative outlet for the Dramatic Arts
Completed answers to questionnaire:
Student Fee Board
Program Interview Questions Stage One Theater
- Where do your funds come from? Please list all major sources.
Stage One Theater and the Theater Department receive funds from a number of sources. Through your Student Fee Board and occasional UTF Grants we receive funds from the Student Government, but we also receive funds from NSCC’s Humanities Division, the President’s Office, and Box Office receipts. We also occasionally apply for funding from other sources (Ed Fund Grants, for instance). As you know, we used to get a substantial amount of our funding from NSCC’s General Instructional Budget. These funds went toward the Technical Director’s salary. Last year that funding was removed, due to budget cuts, and so we transferred the vast majority of our funds from the Student Fee Board to partially cover this loss. We are currently working with the administration to have General Instructional Budget funds reinstated.
- What are the major funding categories and expenses for your program?
Salaries, Supplies & Materials, Printing, Equipment, Repairs & Maintenance.
- How do you get feedback from, students, peers and yourself to assess your program?
We have daily communication with students involved in our productions and classes. Since other faculty and staff members often take part in Stage One productions, we get feedback from them as well. Audiences give feedback for all of our productions as well. Finally, our faculty and staff undergo formal periodic reviews from administration and through student evaluations.
- What methods do you use to assess your program and how do you use assessment to continuously improve or to address changing needs of the students you serve?
We keep track of our statistics (attendance & receipts) for every production and use these to understand how our programming choices work for our population. We invite everyone involved in productions to come to post mortems in order to learn how to improve the process. We have ongoing daily communication with involved students, faculty, and staff; monthly staff meetings; and quarterly meetings with administration and other constituents. We have communication with similar departments around Washington state, both informally and through the American College Theater Festival. We utilize all of this to improve our choice of poductions, workshops, classes, and the foci of Advanced Acting Courses. We also talk with campus members more generally in order to identify current topics and subject matter so that our productions will be pertinent to other classes and on campus events.
- What major goals or direction do you have for your program?
As we move forward, our program has two main goals. First, we are embracing new technologies and moving toward a much broader view of performance as an art that exists in various forms. We are not abandoning live theater, but we are redirecting our courses and our students so that their live performance skills can be deployed in different media –audio, video, gaming, internet, etc. This feeds into our second goal, which is to make NSCC theater more integrated into the different communities in which we take part. We seek to make our live theater a resource for the campus, but we also want to empower our students to take part in larger communities – through Seattle theaters, through SCCTV, through Rainier Radio, through the internet.
- What would you prioritize if faced with limited funds?
Nothing is more important than our staff because they are the ones who support students and help them succeed. Salaries, therefore, are our priority. Along these same lines, we also want to maintain the ability to hire outside directors and designers so that students can learn from people with different aesthetics and skill sets.
- What would you tell all students about your program to get them involved?
The skills one learns in theater are skills that readily transfer into many other areas of life and work. We teach confidence, effective communication, and how to tap your own creativity. We also practical skills such as carpentry, electronics, and design. These are skills that students will be able to use in other courses and their lives more generally.
- How do you collaborate with campus departments, programs and people?
Increased collaboration is part of our mission going forward, and in the past year alone we have collaborated with SCCTV, Rainier Radio, ABE/ESL, English, Business, Communication, Social Sciences, Student Services, the Education Fund, The Polaris, and more. We are all about effective communication, so it makes sense that we would be so collaborative. We do this through one-on-one connections with people in these areas that lead to collaborative projects. Sometimes we go to them with ideas for video production or theater pedagogy that would be good for ESL students, sometimes they come to us with ideas for radio projects or a need for an emcee.
- How does your program support North’s mission statement and core values?
Everything we do changes lives through education – not just for those participating, but for audience members. We choose our productions in order to expose students to issues and raise awareness about topics current in education and culture.
- How does your program impact student success and retention?
Our work study program allows many students to stay at NSCC who might otherwise not be able to do so. Our students gain the confidence and skills – and the motivation – to assist them in other classes. We create community in our productions and in our green room, and our students naturally come to support one another.
Additionally, we assist our students in transitioning out of NSCC and into the working world. In the past year alone we have had students working as paid performers in local musicals, plays, and play readings; students working in local films; students being paid technicians at three local professional theaters.
Finally, we support the Performance Club, the Video Club, and the Dance Club on campus.
- How do you accommodate students with different needs such as: students with disabilities, students from different ethnic, cultural, and financial backgrounds and veterans? Please provide examples.
We are committed to sharing theater with any student who expresses an interest. We have had students in wheel chairs, students with learning and reading disabilities, students in dependence recovery programs, students with children, and many more who require special attention. We are able to individualize instruction and production work in order to give every student appropriate tasks to ensure their success. We are able to assist some students financially through work-study and student employment. We also offer scholarships (when we have the funds) to assist students in financial need.
- Besides funding how could student leadership help your program succeed?
We can always use help with publicity. We would love to see support of the Polaris – both because a student information outlet is generally a good idea, but also because the Polaris usually covered and promoted our productions. Finally, we would love to see student leaders involved in Stage One activities.
- How does your program address sustainability?
We are committed to sustainability. The main impact we have is in reusing everything – usually more than once. When we take down a show we save everything we can – down to screws and nails – for use in future productions. What we can’t reuse ourselves we recycle. We even donate our sawdust to Facilities – they use it to clean up spills.
Along with this questionnaire we are including some support documents for your information. We include budget information, production statistics, and a sampling of the workshops we have offered in the past few years. If you need anything further, please let us know.
Thank you for your consideration.
NSCC Theater Department
Below is our final budget from last year. We ended the year under budget, which allowed us to purchase materials in advance for this year. We knew that the majority of our budget was going to go toward Dan’s salary, so we purchased plywood, paint, and other materials that we knew we could use in this year’s productions.
| NSCC Stage One Theatre | Date:_________________ | |||
| 2008-09 Budget Report, 264-3P02 | ||||
| EXPENSES | REVENUE | |||
| ALLOCATIONS | $ 14,680.00 | $ (4,800.00) | ||
| September Credit Card | $ 1,274.57 | $ 13,405.43 | ||
| September Invoice Vouchers | $ 238.78 | $ 13,166.65 | ||
| October Credit Card- returns | $ (12.92) | $ 13,179.57 | ||
| October Credit Card- purchases | $ 1,175.15 | $ 12,004.42 | ||
| November Credit Card | $ 637.18 | $ 11,367.24 | ||
| November Invoice Vouchers | $ 118.20 | $ 11,249.04 | ||
| Chris Bennion Photography- Twilight | $ 250.00 | $ 10,999.04 | ||
| Revenue, Fall “Twilight, Los Angeles” | $ 1,370.00 | $ (3,430.00) | ||
| December Credit Card | $ 215.83 | $ 10,783.21 | ||
| December Invoice Voucher | $ 275.00 | $ 10,508.21 | ||
| January Credit Card | $ 1,026.86 | $ 9,481.35 | ||
| February Invoice Vouchers | $ 276.53 | $ 9,204.82 | ||
| February Credit Card | $ 892.91 | $ 8,311.91 | ||
| Revenue, Winter “Gargoyle” | $ 835.00 | $ (2,595.00) | ||
| March Invoice Vouchers | $ 615.60 | $ 7,696.31 | ||
| March Credit Card | $ 930.83 | $ 6,765.48 | ||
| April Credit Card | $ 2,174.24 | $ 4,591.24 | ||
| May Credit Card- purchases | $ 1,650.84 | $ 2,940.40 | ||
| May Credit Card- returns | $ (18.62) | $ 2,959.02 | ||
| May Invoice Vouchers | $ 1,604.56 | $ 1,354.46 | ||
| Revenue, Spring “As You Like It” | $ 1,014.00 | $ (1,581.00) | ||
| Revenue, Spring “Stop, Start” | $ 327.00 | $ (1,254.00) | ||
| June Credit Card | $ 888.90 | $ 465.56 | ||
| June Invoice Vouchers | $ 167.58 | $ 297.98 | ||
| TOTAL BUDGET | ||||
| Balance Forward, Un-used Salaries &Benes | $ 2,060.00 | |||
| Remaining Budget Monies | $ 1,103.98 | |||
Below is our production budget for last year’s final production, As You Like It. We provide this so that you can see the level of detail at which we track our expenditures – allocating funds by unit for each production and sticking to these amounts. The Spring show has always been our most elaborate – the budgets for the other productions are substantially less.
| Stage One Theatre 2008-2009 Production Expenditures | Date:______________ | ||||
| Spring Production: As You Like It | |||||
| Date | Type | Expenditure Description | IV | CC | Alloc/Rem |
| Scenery | $ 1,200.00 | ||||
| 3/26/2009 | CC | Display/ Costume: Colorants | $ 51.53 | $ 1,148.47 | |
| 3/26/2009 | CC | PNTA: Fabrics- foliage | $ 127.34 | $ 1,021.13 | |
| 3/30/2009 | CC | Home Depot: blades and paint | $ 46.56 | $ 974.57 | |
| 3/31/2009 | CC | Lowes: poplar and paint | $ 25.17 | $ 949.40 | |
| 4/2/2009 | CC | FedEx/ Kinkos: Large copies | $ 10.95 | $ 938.45 | |
| 4/15/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Lumber | $ 438.48 | $ 499.97 | |
| 4/23/2009 | CC | Lowes: Lumber and sheet stock | $ 310.08 | $ 189.89 | |
| 4/24/2009 | CC | PNTA: Paint, Trick line | $ 68.93 | $ 120.96 | |
| 5/10/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Set Supplies | $ 89.59 | $ 31.37 | |
| $ 1,168.63 | $ 31.37 | ||||
| Costumes | $ 1,500.00 | ||||
| 5/20/2009 | IV | Pete Rush: Receipts | $ 1,354.56 | $ 145.44 | |
| Lighting | 0.00 | ||||
| 4/28/2009 | CC | PNTA: Christmas Lights | $ 13.14 | (13.14) | |
| 5/7/2009 | CC | PNTA: Lighting Gel | $ 82.13 | (95.27) | |
| 5/8/2009 | CC | PNTA: RETURNS | $ (18.62) | (76.65) | |
| $ 76.65 | $ (76.65) | ||||
| Properties | $ 500.00 | ||||
| 4/15/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Puppet parts | $ 11.40 | $ 488.60 | |
| 4/20/2009 | CC | Target: Misc. Props items | $ 41.69 | $ 446.91 | |
| 4/21/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Table cloth | $ 10.93 | $ 435.98 | |
| 4/28/2009 | CC | Fabrics: Puppet Stage | $ 52.43 | $ 383.55 | |
| 4/28/2009 | CC | Office Depot: Duke’s Chair | $ 123.64 | $ 259.91 | |
| 4/29/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Puppet Stage | $ 74.43 | $ 185.48 | |
| 4/30/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Puppet Stage | $ 16.83 | $ 168.65 | |
| 5/10/2009 | CC | Walgreen’s: Batteries and bandana | $ 18.58 | $ 150.07 | |
| 5/12/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Magic Table | $ 44.15 | $ 105.92 | |
| $ 394.08 | $ 105.92 | ||||
| Scripts | $ 50.00 | ||||
| 1/12/2009 | CC | Amazon.com: Script copies | $ 50.61 | $ (0.61) | |
| Misc. | $ 700.00 | ||||
| IV | Bob MacDougall; Combat | $ 400.00 | $ 300.00 | ||
| 5/10/2009 | IV | Chris Bennion; Photography | $ 250.00 | $ 50.00 | |
| 5/15/2009 | CC | Cast Photos | $ 7.94 | 42.06 | |
| $ 657.94 | 42.06 | ||||
| Total Allocations | $ 3,950.00 | ||||
| Remaining Allocations | $ 247.53 | ||||
Below is a list of box office revenue by show for the past several years. Please note that the numbers for the current production are only for the first two of three weeks.
Fall 2009
It’s Not In the P.I.; 5 performances to date (4 remaining); 604 audience, $2847 gate receipts so far.
Spring 2009
As You Like It; 6 performances (3 cancelled due to cast illness); 286 audience, $1063 gate
Winter 2009
John Lennon’s Gargoyle; 9 performances, 291 audience, $830 gate
Fall 2008
Twilight; Los Angeles 1992; 9 performances, 436 audience, $1370 gate
Spring 2008
The Imaginary Invalid; 8 performances, 354 audience, $1494 gate.
Winter 2008
The Don Juan Cult Concerto; 8 performances, 208 audience, $622 gate
Fall 2007
Lanford Wilson One Acts, 8 performances, 250 audience, $1122 gate
Spring 2007
What the Butler Saw; 8 performances, 324 audience, $1532 gate.
Winter 2007
Human Borders; 8 performances, 429 audience, $ 2028 gate.
Fall 2006
Hold Please, 8 performances, 407 audience, $ 1939 gate.
Spring 2006
Laundry and Bourbon, Lone Star; 9 performances, 324 audience, $1224 gate.
W. 2006
Scapin; 9 performances, 521 audience, $1829 gate.
Fall 2005
I Hate Hamlet (Diane’s swan song); 5 performances, 365 audience, $1786 gate.
What would you like to see changed about this program?
From my interviews with both Dan Shuy and Dawson Nichols I get the impression that the school doesn’t take the program seriously. Administration sees the program as a money operation and not an educational tool. The success of “It’s Not in the P-I” is encouraging, but the truth of the matter is the department cannot hit a homerun with every production they produce, and that’s not their goal. If the school’s administration compares the P-I production to the upcoming play, “The Rover” the administration will be disappointed with attendance. This is not because the upcoming production will lack professionalism or educational value, it’s mainly because “It’s Not in the P-I” had the “perfect storm” of a quality production, good timing, and great publicity. However the goal of Stage One is not to get rich, it’s to impact students through education. The biggest problem with Stage One is the communication between Administration and Stage One. I don’t feel Dan and Dawson know what the Administration wants from them, and vice versa. This applies to all Art programs at North Seattle, not just Stage One.
From my observation of Stage One’s budget, and needs; Stage One is not selfish in what they are asking for. They are content of what they are doing, and they feel they are doing a good job. A major problem facing both the Fee board and Stage One is Dan Shuy’s salary. Dan’s salary needs to come from a different source, maybe not this year, but eventually. The problem with cutting Dan’s salary out of the equation is, if Dan goes, so does Stage One. Dawson and Dan rely on each other, without one they cannot run Stage One to its full potential. Cutting or killing Dan’s salary would be the equivalent of cutting the basketball team’s funding. Having said that there are not any major financial changes that Stage One needs at this time, short term changes would be better communication with administration, long term finding new sources for Dan Shuy’s salary.
How would you recommend those changes are implemented?
This is a difficult question because I don’t know the exact solution for the changes that need to be made. I don’t know the nature of the exact nature of the administration’s view point, having only heard half of the argument. The best solution I can think of to at least figure out what the problems are would be to have a mutual meeting with Dan, Dawson, and the Administration. If they were to sit down together and hatch out a general agreement as to what they want, and need from each other, this would allow both sides to know exactly what needs to happen, and no one will be in the dark. If the administration tells Stage One that they are on the chopping block, Dan and Dawson would at least know that. Right now they are both in the dark. I will get the ball rolling with a plan when I present my research on Stage One, and get feedback from the group, as to what the next step should be, but at this time I feel a sit down with the two groups would be a great start.
As for Dan’s salary, I think right now, the student fee board needs to continue to support Dan for the time being, but come up with a “exit plan” for figuring out a future source for Dan’s salary. As I said though, if the fee board eliminates Dan’s salary, and Dan has to leave, we are essentially killing Stage One. From my recollection our orientation in August, it’s impossible to kill a program in one year, but eliminating Dan’s salary might just do the trick. This would be bad; not only from an educational stand point, but the fee board would have to answer to a lot of angry drama students. I don’t want this, and I don’t think anyone on the board does. So we need to come up with a plan for Dan’s salary, I suggest we foot the bill once again, if they request that, but begin to put conditions on it. I’m also going to talk to administration about finding a source for Dan’s salary; as I believe he is a employee of the school, and not a helping hand around stage one. He has been at North Seattle for almost 20 years, and to let him go like that would not only be senseless, it would be an economic disaster for stage one, and the school, because without Dan, the production value goes down, and the school sees stage one as a money venture so less money comes into the gate, because of worse productions. Sorry for that last run-run-run-run on sentence. Thank you.
Written and Approved by Brian Gould
Brian Gould
Program and Managers: Stage 1 @ North Seattle Community College, Dan Shuy, Dawson Nichols
Service provided to students by this program: Creative outlet for the Dramatic Arts
Completed answers to questionnaire:
Student Fee Board
Program Interview Questions Stage One Theater
- Where do your funds come from? Please list all major sources.
Stage One Theater and the Theater Department receive funds from a number of sources. Through your Student Fee Board and occasional UTF Grants we receive funds from the Student Government, but we also receive funds from NSCC’s Humanities Division, the President’s Office, and Box Office receipts. We also occasionally apply for funding from other sources (Ed Fund Grants, for instance). As you know, we used to get a substantial amount of our funding from NSCC’s General Instructional Budget. These funds went toward the Technical Director’s salary. Last year that funding was removed, due to budget cuts, and so we transferred the vast majority of our funds from the Student Fee Board to partially cover this loss. We are currently working with the administration to have General Instructional Budget funds reinstated.
- What are the major funding categories and expenses for your program?
Salaries, Supplies & Materials, Printing, Equipment, Repairs & Maintenance.
- How do you get feedback from, students, peers and yourself to assess your program?
We have daily communication with students involved in our productions and classes. Since other faculty and staff members often take part in Stage One productions, we get feedback from them as well. Audiences give feedback for all of our productions as well. Finally, our faculty and staff undergo formal periodic reviews from administration and through student evaluations.
- What methods do you use to assess your program and how do you use assessment to continuously improve or to address changing needs of the students you serve?
We keep track of our statistics (attendance & receipts) for every production and use these to understand how our programming choices work for our population. We invite everyone involved in productions to come to post mortems in order to learn how to improve the process. We have ongoing daily communication with involved students, faculty, and staff; monthly staff meetings; and quarterly meetings with administration and other constituents. We have communication with similar departments around Washington state, both informally and through the American College Theater Festival. We utilize all of this to improve our choice of poductions, workshops, classes, and the foci of Advanced Acting Courses. We also talk with campus members more generally in order to identify current topics and subject matter so that our productions will be pertinent to other classes and on campus events.
- What major goals or direction do you have for your program?
As we move forward, our program has two main goals. First, we are embracing new technologies and moving toward a much broader view of performance as an art that exists in various forms. We are not abandoning live theater, but we are redirecting our courses and our students so that their live performance skills can be deployed in different media –audio, video, gaming, internet, etc. This feeds into our second goal, which is to make NSCC theater more integrated into the different communities in which we take part. We seek to make our live theater a resource for the campus, but we also want to empower our students to take part in larger communities – through Seattle theaters, through SCCTV, through Rainier Radio, through the internet.
- What would you prioritize if faced with limited funds?
Nothing is more important than our staff because they are the ones who support students and help them succeed. Salaries, therefore, are our priority. Along these same lines, we also want to maintain the ability to hire outside directors and designers so that students can learn from people with different aesthetics and skill sets.
- What would you tell all students about your program to get them involved?
The skills one learns in theater are skills that readily transfer into many other areas of life and work. We teach confidence, effective communication, and how to tap your own creativity. We also practical skills such as carpentry, electronics, and design. These are skills that students will be able to use in other courses and their lives more generally.
- How do you collaborate with campus departments, programs and people?
Increased collaboration is part of our mission going forward, and in the past year alone we have collaborated with SCCTV, Rainier Radio, ABE/ESL, English, Business, Communication, Social Sciences, Student Services, the Education Fund, The Polaris, and more. We are all about effective communication, so it makes sense that we would be so collaborative. We do this through one-on-one connections with people in these areas that lead to collaborative projects. Sometimes we go to them with ideas for video production or theater pedagogy that would be good for ESL students, sometimes they come to us with ideas for radio projects or a need for an emcee.
- How does your program support North’s mission statement and core values?
Everything we do changes lives through education – not just for those participating, but for audience members. We choose our productions in order to expose students to issues and raise awareness about topics current in education and culture.
- How does your program impact student success and retention?
Our work study program allows many students to stay at NSCC who might otherwise not be able to do so. Our students gain the confidence and skills – and the motivation – to assist them in other classes. We create community in our productions and in our green room, and our students naturally come to support one another.
Additionally, we assist our students in transitioning out of NSCC and into the working world. In the past year alone we have had students working as paid performers in local musicals, plays, and play readings; students working in local films; students being paid technicians at three local professional theaters.
Finally, we support the Performance Club, the Video Club, and the Dance Club on campus.
- How do you accommodate students with different needs such as: students with disabilities, students from different ethnic, cultural, and financial backgrounds and veterans? Please provide examples.
We are committed to sharing theater with any student who expresses an interest. We have had students in wheel chairs, students with learning and reading disabilities, students in dependence recovery programs, students with children, and many more who require special attention. We are able to individualize instruction and production work in order to give every student appropriate tasks to ensure their success. We are able to assist some students financially through work-study and student employment. We also offer scholarships (when we have the funds) to assist students in financial need.
- Besides funding how could student leadership help your program succeed?
We can always use help with publicity. We would love to see support of the Polaris – both because a student information outlet is generally a good idea, but also because the Polaris usually covered and promoted our productions. Finally, we would love to see student leaders involved in Stage One activities.
- How does your program address sustainability?
We are committed to sustainability. The main impact we have is in reusing everything – usually more than once. When we take down a show we save everything we can – down to screws and nails – for use in future productions. What we can’t reuse ourselves we recycle. We even donate our sawdust to Facilities – they use it to clean up spills.
Along with this questionnaire we are including some support documents for your information. We include budget information, production statistics, and a sampling of the workshops we have offered in the past few years. If you need anything further, please let us know.
Thank you for your consideration.
NSCC Theater Department
Below is our final budget from last year. We ended the year under budget, which allowed us to purchase materials in advance for this year. We knew that the majority of our budget was going to go toward Dan’s salary, so we purchased plywood, paint, and other materials that we knew we could use in this year’s productions.
| NSCC Stage One Theatre | Date:_________________ | |||
| 2008-09 Budget Report, 264-3P02 | ||||
| EXPENSES | REVENUE | |||
| ALLOCATIONS | $ 14,680.00 | $ (4,800.00) | ||
| September Credit Card | $ 1,274.57 | $ 13,405.43 | ||
| September Invoice Vouchers | $ 238.78 | $ 13,166.65 | ||
| October Credit Card- returns | $ (12.92) | $ 13,179.57 | ||
| October Credit Card- purchases | $ 1,175.15 | $ 12,004.42 | ||
| November Credit Card | $ 637.18 | $ 11,367.24 | ||
| November Invoice Vouchers | $ 118.20 | $ 11,249.04 | ||
| Chris Bennion Photography- Twilight | $ 250.00 | $ 10,999.04 | ||
| Revenue, Fall “Twilight, Los Angeles” | $ 1,370.00 | $ (3,430.00) | ||
| December Credit Card | $ 215.83 | $ 10,783.21 | ||
| December Invoice Voucher | $ 275.00 | $ 10,508.21 | ||
| January Credit Card | $ 1,026.86 | $ 9,481.35 | ||
| February Invoice Vouchers | $ 276.53 | $ 9,204.82 | ||
| February Credit Card | $ 892.91 | $ 8,311.91 | ||
| Revenue, Winter “Gargoyle” | $ 835.00 | $ (2,595.00) | ||
| March Invoice Vouchers | $ 615.60 | $ 7,696.31 | ||
| March Credit Card | $ 930.83 | $ 6,765.48 | ||
| April Credit Card | $ 2,174.24 | $ 4,591.24 | ||
| May Credit Card- purchases | $ 1,650.84 | $ 2,940.40 | ||
| May Credit Card- returns | $ (18.62) | $ 2,959.02 | ||
| May Invoice Vouchers | $ 1,604.56 | $ 1,354.46 | ||
| Revenue, Spring “As You Like It” | $ 1,014.00 | $ (1,581.00) | ||
| Revenue, Spring “Stop, Start” | $ 327.00 | $ (1,254.00) | ||
| June Credit Card | $ 888.90 | $ 465.56 | ||
| June Invoice Vouchers | $ 167.58 | $ 297.98 | ||
| TOTAL BUDGET | ||||
| Balance Forward, Un-used Salaries &Benes | $ 2,060.00 | |||
| Remaining Budget Monies | $ 1,103.98 | |||
Below is our production budget for last year’s final production, As You Like It. We provide this so that you can see the level of detail at which we track our expenditures – allocating funds by unit for each production and sticking to these amounts. The Spring show has always been our most elaborate – the budgets for the other productions are substantially less.
| Stage One Theatre 2008-2009 Production Expenditures | Date:______________ | ||||
| Spring Production: As You Like It | |||||
| Date | Type | Expenditure Description | IV | CC | Alloc/Rem |
| Scenery | $ 1,200.00 | ||||
| 3/26/2009 | CC | Display/ Costume: Colorants | $ 51.53 | $ 1,148.47 | |
| 3/26/2009 | CC | PNTA: Fabrics- foliage | $ 127.34 | $ 1,021.13 | |
| 3/30/2009 | CC | Home Depot: blades and paint | $ 46.56 | $ 974.57 | |
| 3/31/2009 | CC | Lowes: poplar and paint | $ 25.17 | $ 949.40 | |
| 4/2/2009 | CC | FedEx/ Kinkos: Large copies | $ 10.95 | $ 938.45 | |
| 4/15/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Lumber | $ 438.48 | $ 499.97 | |
| 4/23/2009 | CC | Lowes: Lumber and sheet stock | $ 310.08 | $ 189.89 | |
| 4/24/2009 | CC | PNTA: Paint, Trick line | $ 68.93 | $ 120.96 | |
| 5/10/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Set Supplies | $ 89.59 | $ 31.37 | |
| $ 1,168.63 | $ 31.37 | ||||
| Costumes | $ 1,500.00 | ||||
| 5/20/2009 | IV | Pete Rush: Receipts | $ 1,354.56 | $ 145.44 | |
| Lighting | 0.00 | ||||
| 4/28/2009 | CC | PNTA: Christmas Lights | $ 13.14 | (13.14) | |
| 5/7/2009 | CC | PNTA: Lighting Gel | $ 82.13 | (95.27) | |
| 5/8/2009 | CC | PNTA: RETURNS | $ (18.62) | (76.65) | |
| $ 76.65 | $ (76.65) | ||||
| Properties | $ 500.00 | ||||
| 4/15/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Puppet parts | $ 11.40 | $ 488.60 | |
| 4/20/2009 | CC | Target: Misc. Props items | $ 41.69 | $ 446.91 | |
| 4/21/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Table cloth | $ 10.93 | $ 435.98 | |
| 4/28/2009 | CC | Fabrics: Puppet Stage | $ 52.43 | $ 383.55 | |
| 4/28/2009 | CC | Office Depot: Duke’s Chair | $ 123.64 | $ 259.91 | |
| 4/29/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Puppet Stage | $ 74.43 | $ 185.48 | |
| 4/30/2009 | CC | Pacific Fabrics: Puppet Stage | $ 16.83 | $ 168.65 | |
| 5/10/2009 | CC | Walgreen’s: Batteries and bandana | $ 18.58 | $ 150.07 | |
| 5/12/2009 | CC | Home Depot: Magic Table | $ 44.15 | $ 105.92 | |
| $ 394.08 | $ 105.92 | ||||
| Scripts | $ 50.00 | ||||
| 1/12/2009 | CC | Amazon.com: Script copies | $ 50.61 | $ (0.61) | |
| Misc. | $ 700.00 | ||||
| IV | Bob MacDougall; Combat | $ 400.00 | $ 300.00 | ||
| 5/10/2009 | IV | Chris Bennion; Photography | $ 250.00 | $ 50.00 | |
| 5/15/2009 | CC | Cast Photos | $ 7.94 | 42.06 | |
| $ 657.94 | 42.06 | ||||
| Total Allocations | $ 3,950.00 | ||||
| Remaining Allocations | $ 247.53 | ||||
Below is a list of box office revenue by show for the past several years. Please note that the numbers for the current production are only for the first two of three weeks.
Fall 2009
It’s Not In the P.I.; 5 performances to date (4 remaining); 604 audience, $2847 gate receipts so far.
Spring 2009
As You Like It; 6 performances (3 cancelled due to cast illness); 286 audience, $1063 gate
Winter 2009
John Lennon’s Gargoyle; 9 performances, 291 audience, $830 gate
Fall 2008
Twilight; Los Angeles 1992; 9 performances, 436 audience, $1370 gate
Spring 2008
The Imaginary Invalid; 8 performances, 354 audience, $1494 gate.
Winter 2008
The Don Juan Cult Concerto; 8 performances, 208 audience, $622 gate
Fall 2007
Lanford Wilson One Acts, 8 performances, 250 audience, $1122 gate
Spring 2007
What the Butler Saw; 8 performances, 324 audience, $1532 gate.
Winter 2007
Human Borders; 8 performances, 429 audience, $ 2028 gate.
Fall 2006
Hold Please, 8 performances, 407 audience, $ 1939 gate.
Spring 2006
Laundry and Bourbon, Lone Star; 9 performances, 324 audience, $1224 gate.
W. 2006
Scapin; 9 performances, 521 audience, $1829 gate.
Fall 2005
I Hate Hamlet (Diane’s swan song); 5 performances, 365 audience, $1786 gate.
What would you like to see changed about this program?
From my interviews with both Dan Shuy and Dawson Nichols I get the impression that the school doesn’t take the program seriously. Administration sees the program as a money operation and not an educational tool. The success of “It’s Not in the P-I” is encouraging, but the truth of the matter is the department cannot hit a homerun with every production they produce, and that’s not their goal. If the school’s administration compares the P-I production to the upcoming play, “The Rover” the administration will be disappointed with attendance. This is not because the upcoming production will lack professionalism or educational value, it’s mainly because “It’s Not in the P-I” had the “perfect storm” of a quality production, good timing, and great publicity. However the goal of Stage One is not to get rich, it’s to impact students through education. The biggest problem with Stage One is the communication between Administration and Stage One. I don’t feel Dan and Dawson know what the Administration wants from them, and vice versa. This applies to all Art programs at North Seattle, not just Stage One.
From my observation of Stage One’s budget, and needs; Stage One is not selfish in what they are asking for. They are content of what they are doing, and they feel they are doing a good job. A major problem facing both the Fee board and Stage One is Dan Shuy’s salary. Dan’s salary needs to come from a different source, maybe not this year, but eventually. The problem with cutting Dan’s salary out of the equation is, if Dan goes, so does Stage One. Dawson and Dan rely on each other, without one they cannot run Stage One to its full potential. Cutting or killing Dan’s salary would be the equivalent of cutting the basketball team’s funding. Having said that there are not any major financial changes that Stage One needs at this time, short term changes would be better communication with administration, long term finding new sources for Dan Shuy’s salary.
How would you recommend those changes are implemented?
This is a difficult question because I don’t know the exact solution for the changes that need to be made. I don’t know the nature of the exact nature of the administration’s view point, having only heard half of the argument. The best solution I can think of to at least figure out what the problems are would be to have a mutual meeting with Dan, Dawson, and the Administration. If they were to sit down together and hatch out a general agreement as to what they want, and need from each other, this would allow both sides to know exactly what needs to happen, and no one will be in the dark. If the administration tells Stage One that they are on the chopping block, Dan and Dawson would at least know that. Right now they are both in the dark. I will get the ball rolling with a plan when I present my research on Stage One, and get feedback from the group, as to what the next step should be, but at this time I feel a sit down with the two groups would be a great start.
As for Dan’s salary, I think right now, the student fee board needs to continue to support Dan for the time being, but come up with a “exit plan” for figuring out a future source for Dan’s salary. As I said though, if the fee board eliminates Dan’s salary, and Dan has to leave, we are essentially killing Stage One. From my recollection our orientation in August, it’s impossible to kill a program in one year, but eliminating Dan’s salary might just do the trick. This would be bad; not only from an educational stand point, but the fee board would have to answer to a lot of angry drama students. I don’t want this, and I don’t think anyone on the board does. So we need to come up with a plan for Dan’s salary, I suggest we foot the bill once again, if they request that, but begin to put conditions on it. I’m also going to talk to administration about finding a source for Dan’s salary; as I believe he is a employee of the school, and not a helping hand around stage one. He has been at North Seattle for almost 20 years, and to let him go like that would not only be senseless, it would be an economic disaster for stage one, and the school, because without Dan, the production value goes down, and the school sees stage one as a money venture so less money comes into the gate, because of worse productions.Thank you.
Written and Approved by Brian Gould