Release from the Board of the Stern Masque Theatre Association
 
It is with sadness that today I inform you that the Board of the Stern Masque Theatre Association has had to serve our dedicated and loyal Theatre Manager with a notice of retrenchment. This is through no fault of her own and we will be sorry to see her leave our Theatre. The Coronavirus Pandemic has wreaked havoc to all business and sectors and the Arts have been sorely hit.

Since Level 5 lockdown in March 2020 we have tried to the best of our ability to balance the well being and continuation of the Theatre with care for our staff. We managed to navigate several levels of lockdown without having to make any changes but sadly in January it became evident that we couldn’t continue as we had been operating. By agreement, the terms of her employment were changed in an effort to avoid retrenchment and maintain employment.

From January we have been operating on an absolute bare bones budget and spending only when absolutely necessary. We have been fortunate to receive donations from Canada which have kept the doors open. We have also been fortunate to partner with producers who have split proceeds with the Theatre, who themselves have had to navigate challenges such as 50% capacity and load shedding. With the advent of the new restrictions requiring us to once again close our doors temporarily, we have been forced to react, part of this was to embark on the legislated Sec 189 consultative process with the Theatre Manager to attempt to find a working solution to avoid retrenchment. We were unsuccessful in this and yesterday, sadly, we had no choice but to give her notice.

We wish her all the best for the future and will be very sad to see her go at the end of her notice period.

We don’t know what the future holds for the Arts in South Africa and will navigate the coming months carefully, safely and always remembering that we have a duty to provide a safe and welcoming space for practitioners to display and hone their skills. Community Theatre has never been a profitable animal but we have a long history to honour: which began with Bertie Stern’s dream over 60 years ago, and as long as we are here, the volunteers will continue to keep The Masque alive.

The third wave of this pandemic is upon us and I urge everyone to be safe and to take the necessary precautions to stay safe. We will be updating accordingly as the macro situation continues to unfold and we react accordingly. 
For any comments or queries please do feel free to contact me via email on chair@themasque.co.za

Yours in Theatre

Daniel Enticott
Chairman - Stern Masque Theatre Association