As reported earlier, we have had a number of changes at Tara since the end of our previous season especially in the area of operations. As such, our Tara Players Executive for 2018-19 is as follows:

• General Manager: Vacant

• Artistic Director: Megan Andres

• Treasurer: Shannon O’Brien

• Rights Manager: Brendan Carruthers

• PR/Marketing Manager: Vacant

• Ticket Manager: Vacant

We are working to fill these positions and our previous Danielle Savage as well as other past Tara members are working hard to assist the Executive until these positions are filled.

Going Forward

Because of the vacancies on the Executive, we have decided to go with an abbreviated season of only 3 shows versus 4. Season ticket prices will be reduced accordingly. We will still continue to bring you quality Irish theatre and are excited to announce our upcoming season will be:

• Ghosts After Ibsen by Thomas Kilroy, Directed by Brendan Carruthers, part of RMTC Ibsen Fest, Jan 31 – Feb 3 & Feb 5-9, 2019. 

Dinner Theatre, February 2, 2019

• For Love by Laoisa Sexton, Directed by Jessina Cheffins, March 28-30 & April 5-6, 2019. Dinner Theatre, March 30, 2019

• Bailegangaire by Tom Murphy, Directed by Megan Andres, May 9-11 & 17-18, 2019. Dinner Theatre, May 11, 2019

Our season launch event usually held in September, will be sometime in November – please keep checking back for the date! We will also be adjusting our Season Ticket packages as we are offering one less show – more information to follow.

We appreciate your patience and ongoing support during this time of transition. If you are interested in any of the vacant positions, please contact Danielle Savage at [email protected]

You can also contact Tara Players via our FB page (www.facebook.com/taraplayers) or through our email address, [email protected]

We are no longer operating a dedicated Tara phone line so if you need to phone us for any reason, please call us at the Irish Association of Manitoba, 204-772-9830

Thank You!

• to our outgoing Artistic Director, Anastasia O’Brien for her ongoing and tireless dedication to the Tara Players; Brendan Carruthers for his amazing tenacity, guidance and support; Anita Daher for stepping up when we desperately needed help; Shannon O’Brien for his patience and diplomacy; Bernard Boland for being our official photographer; Heather Milne for her PR/Marketing advice and assisting with Eventbrite; thank you to the IAM Board especially Joe Savage, Bonnie Smeaton and Ken Hoglund for all of their support; thank you to McDonnell School of Irish Dance for their high level of professionalism serving at dinner theatre; my amazing husband and family for their patience and support; all the many actors, directors, stage managers, sets, costume, lighting and sound volunteers who time after time amaze our audiences with their talents; and finally, I would like to take a moment to thank Deirdre Carruthers for being my personal touchstone during a very tumultuous season.

• If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to take them. Thank you.

Respectfully submitted,

Danielle Savage, General Manager, Tara Players

September 23, 2018

Thank you to all our attendees once again for your ongoing support of the Tara Players. As we have already reported in previous newsletters, Tara had a number of organizational changes take place at the end of last season. We saw the passing of the Artistic Director torch from Anastasia O'Brien to Megan Andres and we found ourselves again without a PR/Communications Manager when Anita Daher took on a more expanded role with the Canadian Writers' Union. Anastasia's vision and leadership as Artistic Director and her passion for theatre are immense and I will be forever thankful for the work we did together. Tara wishes both Anastasia and Anita much success with their future endeavors. We also finished this past season once again without an official Ticket Manager - although, my personal and heartfelt gratitude goes out to Deirdre Carruthers for continuing to work behind the scenes on tickets while we tried to find someone to fill the position. Thank you also to Brendan Carruthers for working so diligently not only as a director with Tara, but as our Rights Manager; securing all of the rights to perform each of our shows is a huge and largely unknown role but none of our shows would go up without Brendan's tireless attention to detail. As well, thank you to Shannon O'Brien, for coming on board as our Treasurer this past season when Chris Clary-Lemon stepped down - your patience and past Tara experience as GM was invaluable.

Now for the not so great news...as some of you know, I had planned to step down as General Manager at the end of the 2016-17 season but as no successor could be found, I continued as GM for the 2017-18 season. However, I regret to inform you, that with a very heavy heart, I will not be returning as General Manager of the Tara Players for the 2018-19 season. I no longer feel that I can offer the organization the leadership and dedication it deserves based on my personal commitments in other areas of my life. I was honoured to serve Tara first from 1996-2001 as PR/Communications Manager; and then again on a 3-person executive with Mary Kelly Campbell as Artistic Director; and Brendan Carruthers as General Manager for five seasons before finally becoming GM in 2014. I have agonized over stepping down for over a year and in truth, have been putting it off because I have not been able to put a succession plan in place and leaving while the position is still vacant has been an extremely difficult decision to make. But to continue, without being able to give the position the attention it truly deserves, for yet another year, is simply not good for anyone. However, the Tara Players has been operating successfully for 45 years - long before I was involved - and it is important to remember that the Tara Players are much bigger than any one person. The Tara Players have always been well-respected within the local theatre community and "on a wing and a prayer", Tara has presented some of the best theatre in Winnipeg, in Canada and internationally; regardless of who was at the helm. 

I am confident the Tara family and the IAM board will find a competent and energetic new GM who will lead the organization, along with Megan Andres as its Artistic Director, to even greater success. I look forward to working with that individual on the transition. I will always be a Tara Player and have been blessed to be a member of Tara since 1995; I look forward to many more happy years to come either on stage or behind-the-scenes.

Sincerely,

Danielle Savage