by Tony John Penton
CCMS Member 1997 - 2000
I feel that I ought to try and pass on what I have learnt in being part of
CCMS. I hope that in doing this my mistakes will not be repeated. As a bit of
background, I have been involved with CCMS for my four years in Cambridge. I my
first year (Tim Reid as chair, "Yours Personally" performed in StAB) I got
involved quite late and helped by operating follow-spots. John Hall, the
then-technical director was a friend of mine from church, and that is how I got
involved. I enjoyed doing it so much, largely due to the excellent friendships
that I formed, that I carried on thereafter.
In my second year I was involved from the start. Sally Wholmes was the chair and
we performed "Worldview", by Chris Corney in Peterhouse Theatre. John was again
TD, and I helped, along with Dot Pipet (then Dot Georgeson) to design and run
the lighting.
My the time I was in my third year, John was a finalist (CS), so we split the
job of technical director between us. Practically this make little difference -
he concentrated on sound, and I on lights, as before. It did, however mean that
I went to committee meetings. We performed "Scoop" which had music taken from
"Daybreak" and script by Martin Saunders. Jo Hayden was the chair, and while Jo was
great, and that year was very successful, it was rather disorganised at times. In
some sort of a way I thought I could do better - on the organisational side (I
was the administrator of the CU at my sixth form college), and becoming
chairperson seemed to be the next step. So I suggested the matter to the
committee, who were enthusiastic about this and hence I became chairperson. This
year has been more disorganised than last - in ways. I feel that it has been
better in some respects, and worse in others. We performed "Working Angels Club"
in StAB, once again John Hall helped as technical director.
The Society
CCMS is an amazing society - I have really enjoyed being a part of it for these
four years. Now, any CICCU rep will hate me for this, but I think the reason
that I and others like it so much is that it acts like a church, something that
is lacking in Cambridge. CICCU is (quoting an old CICCU president) an
"evangelism society", and is always claiming that it "is not a church". All
CICCUs activities are geared towards evangelism and there is not as much place
for just being a Christian community (this happens to a greater extent in
college CUs).
The Chairperson
Clearly, the chairperson has the central role in CCMS. I'll try and describe
what I think the job involves. Obviously there is some sort of leadership
element - the chair is a face of the society, and at least until the directors
take over, the chair will "run" things. The chair is the first contact for new
members, and usually the one to send out e-mails saying what will happen. The
leadership role is not, however, as strong as in other circumstances. It is not
the chair that runs the society and makes all the decisions - it is the
committee. So, at a more fundamental level the role is chairperson of the
committee, and as such will look after committee meetings.
Chairing a meeting is (I think) a question of bringing the agenda - making sure
that everything that needs discussion/decision/action is brought up, and
secondly, making sure the meeting sticks to the topic, and is balanced. It is, I
think, some sort of social skill (which I lack) to make sure everyone is
comfortable, and will therefore share their opinions. Meetings, especially in
CCMS, will tend to wander and start discussing what everyone did at the weekend,
and this kind of thing needs to be kept to a minimum. It is possible, especially
if some of the committee are close friends, for little cliques to form which
will exclude others. Off-topic discussion can encourage this, and I think the
chair should do their best to involve everyone - even the quiet members of the
group. Somewhat strangely, meetings this year seem to have been rather
dictatorial. I often brought a matter, and said what I thought about it, only to
have all the committee agree, and there be no discussion on the matter. Since my
opinions can't be that excellent, I did wonder if I was a little intimidating,
and scaring people. The situation got better as the year went on.
On a practical note, the chairperson will do some of the work of the society,
things such as talking to people to book rooms, photocopying (some of this might
be the secretary's job), etcetera. The society is fairly flexible in this
respect - committee jobs are not rigidly assigned to individual posts, and work
will get assigned to whoever is best suited to doing it.
Societies' Fair
The annual CUSU societies' fair is where some members are "recruited". The early
booking deadline is getting really early now, being sometime in May, but it is
always useful for CCMS to have a stand. Running the stand is not too much
effort, only a few things are required:
Flyers are essential, people are unlikely to remember details. Traditionally CCMS flyers are non-rectangular (triangular is easiest to cut out, cross-shaped
is a pain), and will have a brief description, details for contact, and for the
squash. (Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs - it's easier for me to write
down everything.)
A banner is useful to attract people's attention. The banner must be very
readily readable, because people walking past are just going to scan it very
quickly. If a Christian scans it, but can't readily make out the word "Christian"
they are likely to walk past. It is best to have the banner on canes (purchase
from Mackays, East Road), raised to about head-height.
A sign-up list is a way of getting loads of people's e-mail addresses. Those
manning the stall should emphasize that there is no commitment involved, and
get as many names as possible. Typically, much less than 10% of the people who
"sign-up" will actually join the society. Get names also of people who would be
interested in seeing the musical.
Photos. Jo Corbett lent us her photo albums of CCMS from past years, and they
are great for giving an impression of what CCMS is like.
People. As many as possible (spread the workload) to stand at the stall and be
enthusiastic about CCMS, and get as many people as possible excited about it.
Other societies. Make a note of where all the other Christian societies are in
the fair, and tell them where you are. In this way, they can direct people to CCMS and visa-versa (people will ask where the CU is). If possible, take some of
their flyers, and give them some of yours. I believe SCC has started taking a
stall, and this is a useful central point for Christian things.
The Squash
OK, I can't really claim to know how to do this, or even why we do it. The
principle is that people who want to find out more about the society come to a
social event, and we persuade them to be a part of the society. Of the people in CCMS this year, very few, if any came to the squash. It is probably worth having
- get some drinks and nibbles, and some silly games, and try and make sure
people enjoy themselves. CCMS needs to be fairly organised at this point - so
that you can say, "If you want to be a part of CCMS, then auditions are next
week, at the same time." This means having a musical sorted out, and preferably
directors organised. This is why it really helps to have lots of people carrying
on from last year - some of which can be directors. If not, then you are picking
directors from people new to the society, who have only just come to the squash,
and are now being asked to run auditions.
Silly Games
A few suggestions:
Make a line of chairs (or preferably a strong plank on two stools), and stand
everybody on them. Get them to arrange themselves in alphabetical order (without
falling off).
Twister. If necessary, play with coloured paper plates, you don't actually need
the game.
The Nail Game. Buy a pack of 6" nails. Stand one upright (head at the top), and
challenge people to balance all the others on the top. Solution: Lay one nail
down, and then lay the others across this (at right-angles), pointing in
alternate directions. Put another nail on top, parallel with the first. By
carefully picking up this structure, the heads of the nails "lock" onto the top
nail, preventing them slipping down. This structure can easily be balanced on
the nail head.
The animal game. Create a ring of chairs, with a break. Assign an animal noise
and action to each chair (yes, it's very silly), starting with the most basic
animal (amoeba?) at one end, and progressing to, say, a lion at the other.
Starting with the amoeba, people sitting on the chairs have to make the animal
noise associated with the chair, and then one of the other noises. The person
sitting on the chair with that animal noise then has to do the same... Play
continues until someone hesitates, returns the "play" to the person who just
"sent" it to them, or to one of the places next to them. If someone does one of
these things, they are "out", and they move to to position of the amoeba, and
everybody from the amoeba's position round moves up one place. The aim of the
game is to be in the place of the lion.
There are loads of other such games/puzzles which may be useful. Don't attempt
to play any games from the TV show "Whose Line is it Anyway", such games require
large amounts of talent, and will generally flop with a group of strangers.
Rehearsal Rooms
The best place for rehearsals (imho) is Henry Martyn Hall. This can readily be
booked by going and seeing Sue Anderson who works these (Wednesday and Friday
2-4pm). Cost is low, but book early to ensure availability.
StAG has in the past let CCMS use its rooms. It is more expensive than HMH, but
is bigger.
There are moves afoot in the university to allow University societies the same
priority on college rooms as college societies. Before this happens (if it
does), some colleges will charge way too much for room hire. Colleges worth
investigating include Homerton (where music students can get rooms particularly
easily) and Clare.
Finding a Musical
In the past few years, finding a musical to perform has been the toughest task.
There is plenty of Christian drama out there, but of the stuff that is
evangelistic, most is sketches, and not full musicals. Other stuff is just
unbelieveably cheesy or trite. For as long as I have known it, CCMS has
performed musicals that were written for it by students (or ex-students). This
is quite a good solution, and produces some excellent musicals, but can lead to
difficulties.
Finding a Venue
This is a really hard job. The choice is either a college venue or a church.
Venues like the ADC/Mumford are too big for CCMS really, unless it grows.
Churches: CCMS has used Holy Trinity/St Andrew's Street Baptist, and been
offered Emmanuel URC. Of them, StAB has probably the best stage. They pose
problems for technical crews and generally arranging stuff, but are cheap (or
free), accessible at all times. They might put off some of the potential
audience who wouldn't otherwise come to a church. The administrator in StAB is
particularly helpful. Be as nice as possible when using a church, so that they
let CCMS back (and don't mess up their PA system).
Colleges: are much stricter and harder to obtain. They can only be used until
(usually) about midnight, require members of the college to be involved, and
have loads of regulations, besides which they can be expensive. However, they
are more accessible to non-churched students. Some colleges are listed below
with what is know about them:
Trinity. Has no theatre.
St. John's. Has a lecture theatre which is inappropriate for theatrical work.
Emma. Has the Queen's Building. Very good apparently, but they will want lots of
Emma students to be involved.
Clare. Has the Blythe Room at Clare Colony. Basic, but they might let CCMS use
it.
Selwyn. Has the "Diamond" at Cripps Court. I know nothing more about this.
[Frontiers was performed here successfully in 2002 - E]
Peterhouse. Has quite a good theatre, which CCMS has used. Requires the
agreement of the college drama society, and a Peterhouse member within the
society. A major problem is that the library is just next door, so rehearsals
can't be too noisy. Has quite a good lighting rig (hint: run DMX from the desk,
and use a DEMUX to drive the Strand Packs).
Catz. Has Chad's Octagon. CCMS has used this, and I found it an excellent venue.
There is a certain amount of lighting equipment (but beware, the packs take
5-pin Pulsar inputs, adaptors will be needed from newer 8-pin types), and the
venue performs really well for theatre in the half-round. Will require a Catz
member in CCMS (and it takes up a lot of their time), is not very big, and quite
far from town (but not too bad).
Caius. Have some sort of venue, but is for college societies only, except with
special permission.
Corpus. I think Corpus has the Playroom, which costs a fortune.
Homerton. Fantatstic venue. Miles away.
The Old
Labs at Newnham is also a good venue for smaller productions with a good basic
set of facilities when I was there (2002-2004) - E
[There was a list on the University Website that I
found of rooms available to hire in all colleges but I can't remember where
exactly, sorry - E]
Publicity
Publicity depends heavily on deciding a musical and booking a venue. Get all
these things done early. The difference between breaking even and making a loss
is down to good publicity. Make posters and flyers. Get listings in newspapers,
and on CUCN. Advertise it on the CCMS web-site, and e-mail everyone who signed
up to CCMS at the Fresher's Fair (this last point is very important). Be careful
where you put posters for fear of enraging college authorities.
Guarentee Against Loss
The Societies Syndicate Technical Committee will award a "Guarentee Against
Loss" if asked. Basically this requires the submission of projected accounts and
other details, and then, if audience figures are poor, they will give up to 1000
pounds against the loss. Application forms are available on the university
web-server. They will also award grants for one-off capital purchases.
I sat on the SSTC this year (societies are asked to send a rep on a 25-year
sycle, I was sent by CUCN), so I know what they are looking for in the
application. This basically boils down to good accounting.
Audience figures - give an estimate which is around 30%-40% of capacity - ie. be
pessimistic. If your accounts are based on selling all available tickets, the
guarantee won't be awarded.
Based on this, set the ticket price to give a small profit.
Estimates of outgoings must be reasonable (ie. not too low).
Making incomings and outgoings exactly equal is suspicious.
The committee will expect a reasonable number of people in the society, paying a
subscription that covers the normal society expenses.
Don't include large amounts of accounts figures, they will not be looked at.
Simple summaries suffice, and make easier reading.
All figures must add up. Members of the committee get good at maths.
If the application is for a grant, the committee like to see quotes for the
item, preferably more than one.
Submit the application well in advance. The committee meets only monthly. Get an
acknowledgement if possible.
Guarantees will not be paid if the loss is as a result of extra spending - only
if it is as a result of smaller-than-expected income.
Claiming a guarantee makes the committee look more carefully at next year's
application.
When I made the application (which we didn't claim), I produced two sets of
figures, a realistic one (40% audience) showing that we expected to make a
profit, and a worst-case (10% audience), showing a loss. The guarantee I asked
for was the amount of this loss. We didn't claim the guarantee.
Technical
Since I have designed the lighting for CCMS on several occasions, I will include
a few notes on this point. I suspect that CCMS will be limited technically by
the amount of expertise in the society.
Lighting Hire is normally from Theatre Direct, Kirkwood Road, Kings Hedges. They
are very helpful, will offer advice, and source any equipment not in their
catalogue. However, they are not especially cheap, and the hire charge will be
the largest since cost of the production. Book early.
Sound equipment. There is a lot of this about. C3 and City Church may lend PA
gear, and some students own their own.
Scaffolding. In some situations (ie. on balconies) the easiest way of hanging
lights is from scaffold structures. Tanner and Hall (Harston) will lend small
amounts of scaffold free of charge if it is collected and returned.
ADC. Has some equipment which it will hire out. It is relatively cheap (for some
items), but some of the equipment is old. Backdrops are particularly useful.
Get technical people working on stuff nice and early (weeks before the
production). They will need to see a run-through (if in bits) of most of the
musical, so that they can plan what is needed. Give them a budget, and encourage
them to stick to it.
Garden Party
This a fairly traditional thing for a society to do. Usually the first job of
the new committee, it doesn't take much effort. Find an appropriate green spot
(Homerton Orchard is excellent, if far away, Parker's Piece or Jesus Green are
also OK), and advertise it. Other societies put on big commercial things, but I
feel that it is more appropriate for CCMS to buy some drinks, ask members to
bring and share food, and generally just picnic.
CCMS Photo
Eden Lilly (or Jet) will come and take a society photo if asked (free of charge)
and booked in advance. There are, however, disadvantages to this. It is usually
done at the same time are the Garden Party, and attendance can be low. Further,
the proofs are ready a few weeks later, and must then be taken round to members
and orders collected. All this takes a lot of time, and will usually only happen
the next term (if at all), thus possibly excluding graduating members. However,
the quality is excellent.
It is worth trying to take some cast photos during show week, since, at that
time everybody is gathered together. The disadvantage of this is that it is
really busy and people may not be willing to wait around for photos. Pictures
taken during the performance are usually poor quality, suffering from colour
casts due to stage lighting, and poor composition due to not being able to move
easily around. If possible, take carefully composed pictures (of the whole cast,
and various groupd/scenes) before/between/after performances.
Yellow Pages
A useful thing for maintaining social contact is for CCMS to produce and address
list ("Yellow Pages" irrespective of the colour of the paper), and distribute
this to members. A prayer diary for the summer might also be desirable.