Standing Rules Bylaw
Standing Rules of the Suffield Players
by category, with commentary
Standing Rules
Membership shall be notified of changes to the Standing Rules
Modification of Standing Rules requires two-thirds vote of the Board.The Board, on June19, 2019, discussed the difference between “two-thirds vote of the Board” (8 out of 11) and “two-thirds vote by the Board” (supposing a quorum of 6 members, two-thirds would be as few as 4). The example of the US Senate’s “2/3” always needing 67 votes was cited, but further research found that not to be true. However, it was decided that the larger number is what the membership had in mind at the 2019 Annual Meeting, so the number of votes required is set at present at 8, a parliamentary concept known as “[super]majority of the fixed membership.”
Standing Rules shall follow Robert’s Rules of Order when not contradicting the By-laws.Codified June 19, 2019.
Patron member
Per the By-laws: “Patron members shall pay a yearly membership donation of not less than Donor level for the current Seasons, but need not be involved in any production or related Corporation activity. The Board of Directors will set Patron member donation levels at the beginning of each Season.”
The Board sets these levels:
Friend level is less than $50.
Donor level is a minimum of $50.
Contributor/Bronze level is a minimum of $100.
Benefactor/Silver level is a minimum of $250.
Angel/Gold level is a minimum of $500.
Archangel/Platinum level is a minimum of $1000.
Diamond level is a minimum of $2000.
Patron members can also pay sponsorships at the same level as membership donations.
Patron members get one vote per person, or in the case of donations credited to more than one person, a maximum of two votes per donation.Codified June 19, 2019. Updated August 23, 2022.
Dues
Per the By-laws: “The Board of Directors shall determine dues for Participant members at the beginning of each Season.”
Dues amount is zero ($0).Set to zero since before the 2007 By-law Rewrite. Codified 2019.
Committees
As per the recent By-law amendments, the dates for the committees’ reports:
Playreading shall submit its report/presentation at the October Board meeting.
Directors Search Committee shall submit its report/presentation at the February Board meeting.Board reads in November, season sent to DSC in December, interviews in January.Codified June 19, 2019.
Minutes
Board meeting minutes will be posted to the membership by the 15th day after the Board meeting
Members may request access to a members-only section of suffieldplayers.org, where the minutes will be published, by emailing memdevel@suffieldplayers.org.Codified June 19, 2019. Amended July 21, 2020.
Electronic Voting
When an unexpected issue needs immediate attention, or a time-sensitive operational issue arises, between scheduled Board meetings, Board members may conduct voting via email with the following conditions:
All Board members should respond (yes/no/abstain) within three days. It is assumed anyone not responding in that period has abstained.
Any Board member can shut down the voting by responding that it needs face-to-face discussion.
Simple majority of the votes approves the issue.
All information regarding the vote must be put into the minutes of the next meeting.First created August 2015. The word “unexpected” added June 19, 2019. Word changed and sentence added to bullet #1 August 21, 2024.
Finances
Each month, the Treasurer will balance QuickBooks transactions with the bank statement.
Each month, the Treasurer will report to the Board all financial transactions since the last report, comparing them to the budget, and, if relevant, to last year’s transactions.
Each month, the Secretary will review the bank statement to ensure the checks cashed are accurate and appropriate.First two of these procedures followed dating back to 2007; third item followed since circa 2017. Codified June 19, 2019.
Banking
The debit card is accessible only to the President, Treasurer, and Secretary, any of whom may appoint another member to make a one-time purchase with return of the debit card and purchase receipt.
The Home Depot charge card is accessible only to the President, Treasurer, Secretary, Technical Director, and Facility Manager, any of whom may appoint another member to make a one-time purchase with return of the charge card and purchase receipt.Codified June 19, 2019. Amended July 15, 2025.
Hall Access
The Facility Manager shall submit a list of all outstanding key holders at the beginning of each fiscal year for Board review.Codified June 19, 2019.
Extension of Performance Runs
Establishes the criteria for extending the number of performances of a production of the Corporation with additional dates of performances during a Season if both the cast and crew can commit to such agreed upon dates at the time of audition, or at any time up to the deadline for the decision to extend a run.
The criteria listed below are to be included on the Corporation’s Audition/Membership Form (See ARTICLE III, Section 3) and signed agreement received from the cast and crew of a production at the time of auditions.
If, at any time before the close of the first Saturday performance:
The opening Saturday reaches reservations of at least 85% of available tickets; and
the second weekend has one performance fully reserved; and
any performance on the third weekend has at least 45% of available tickets reserved
OrAn average of at least 80% of available tickets have been reserved for the second weekend’s performances.The above criteria are for an additional date extension. The criteria are minimums and do not preclude an extension of a production for other dates or based on other factors than those set forth under this section. The Board of Directors may seek to add performances of a production (including but not limited to, a production being extended under this section) at their discretion.
Created October, 2007. Codified here August 28, 2019.
Weather Protocol
Shows are generally only canceled if either the theatre loses power OR the CT Dept of Transportation (CT DOT) closes the major highways like 91 or 84 in our region.
Anyone may check Hall power remotely – if the phone answering machine picks up, the Hall has power to some degree.
Facilities Manager and/or person closest to the Hall will post a sign on the front doors announcing the cancelation and any information about re-booking tickets.
If power exists, the phone message will be changed to announce the cancelation and re-booking instructions.
Actual Language to be used follows (use this exact language when posting to Social Media):
First Message - Unfortunately, we have had to cancel this evening's performance due to the current weather. If you had tickets, a member of our staff will be in contact with you to arrange for a future reservation. All future performances will run as scheduled. For more information, log on to www.suffieldplayers.org. Stay safe and we will see you soon.
Second Message (to be posted if there is a show the next night) – We may have canceled tonight, but tomorrow night is still on!
Website –
Tonight’s show performance has been canceled due to the weather! If you had tickets to join us tonight, a member of our staff will be in contact with you to arrange for a future reservation. We will continue to post real time updates about future performances here and on Social Media as long as the power stays on.
On behalf of all of us at The Suffield Players, stay safe and we will see you soon!
Created November, 2011. Codified here August 28, 2019. Amended July 15, 2025.Internal Protocol
The Board of Directors will make a determination on any given performance date as to whether to cancel a performance. All care will be given to do so in a timely basis, meaning at least two (2) hours prior to performance where possible.
Tickets for that evening will be re-booked to a following performance, or if none exist, refunds will be issued. Each ticket will be handled on case by case basis to ensure the patron is treated in respectful manner.
CALL TREE
The decision process will be made as follows: The Facilities Manager and/or President will make the final determination. In lieu of their presence, in order the responsibility falls to:the Secretary
the Treasurer
Box Office Manager
House Manager
PR / Media Director
Sales Director
Membership Director
Once decision has been made, contact is:
Phone call and e-mail to all Board Members, Stage Manager and DirectorDirector contacts actors
Stage Manager contacts all crew chiefs who should assist with their run crew as needed
Box Office Manager contacts Ticket staff and together they split up the patron list and reach out to all possible
House Manager contacts that night's house staff and any auxiliary house staff
Sales Director makes sure that the website is updated with cancelation information and re-booking process
PR / Media Director posts on Social Media and ensures that the message on the answering machine is changed