Brockport Championship Cat Show

Even if you aren’t a “dog person” you’re probably aware of dog shows – maybe you’ve watched highlights from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on the news, or you’ve seen the hysterical movie Best in Show. But did you know that there are cat shows, too? I certainly didn’t, until my friend Parker got an adorable Egyptian Mau, Saladin, and started to show him. But I guess it makes sense – dog shows aren’t about dogs doing tricks or following any particular commands, they’re about breed standards. So why not have the same thing for cats?

a couple of cats with lots of ribbons

When Parker, her daughter Emory, and prize-winning Saladin came to visit to compete in the National Siamese Cat Club Annual CFA* Allbreed Championship Cat Show this weekend in Brockport, I was intrigued. I had to go! Saladin didn’t win any additional prizes on the first day, and unfortunately his cage was still undecorated when I visited the second morning. Apparently, this show had attracted a lot of the top nationally ranked cats, although not a lot of Saladin’s particular breed. Yeah, I was confused.

Saladin with (right to left)
Parker, Emory, and the breeder

I’d never heard of an Egyptian Mau, the only naturally domesticated spotted cat, but I’m pretty sure we had a Steiff stuffed animal modeled on one as a kid, because it’s exactly what I picture when I picture a cat. Saladin is very handsome, and very well behaved, and has even been trained, like a dog, to respond to ‘give me your paw.’ He was the only one of his breed in his category (premiership – cats that have been fixed, as opposed to championship – those that haven’t, and still other categories for kittens and mixed breed household pets).

a judge making awards and
explaining her reasoning

coffee filter 'bib'

Cat shows are good advertisement for the breeders, and a great place for cat lovers to socialize. Most of the owners in the room were women ‘of a certain age’ and many were fixated with maintaining their cats’ grooming for their next appearance in the ‘ring’ (which wasn’t a ring at all, but a platform on a table with a scratching post). Some of the long-haired cats wore coffee-filter collars (that looked like inverted dog cones of shame) to keep their hair from matting while eating. There seemed to be a lot of downtime, since the actual time in the ring was only a few minutes, and then there was a lot of waiting – to be called to another ring, or to be called back as a finalist. Saladin and my friends would be at the show all day and only compete in only five or six rings!

a very intent judge evaluating Saladin

Saladin after a round of judging

Parker tried to explain to me the various judging criteria, things like body and head symmetry, eye color, and body proportion. I could see from the judges’ expressions when they felt the cats for deformities, and waved feathers at their faces to assess their eyes, how seriously they take their jobs.  It was certainly amusing, if not exciting. And it definitely isn’t a spectator thing, unless you’re there to check out a breed or breeder (and there were kittens for sale). Sadly, Saladin returned with only one ribbon to show for his owners’ efforts. On the flip side, I’m pretty sure he didn’t know the difference!

*Cat Fanciers’ Association, of course! (not to be confused with Chartered or Certified Financial Analysts…)

Geva Theatre Center Summer Academy Showcase

Let me start by saying I’m not a fan of watching or reading Shakespeare plays. Yes, I studied my fair share in high school, and I’ve seen enough plays (and movies) to have an appreciation for them. But to me they're a bit like vegetables - I know they're good for you, but a little goes a long way... So I was ambivalent about attending Geva’s Summer Academy 2015 Showcase: Welcome to the Renaissance.

Not surprisingly, there were more young people in the audience than I’d seen at the theater in a long time – mostly friends and family of the cast (many had bouquets of flowers for post-show presentation). I chatted with two women behind me – mother and grandmother of a 14-year old in the academy for his first year. I asked how he had liked the program, and they said that despite being a quiet kid, he had thoroughly enjoyed the experience, had blossomed, and wanted to be an actor when he grows up.

Skip Greer, Director of Education, introduced the afternoon and explained that the five-week training program for 30 students focused first on process and then on performance. Wait, just five weeks to learn all those difficult lines, songs, and dances? I was impressed. Even though some of the kids were difficult to understand at times when they were speaking too quickly to enunciate clearly. Even though Shakespeare can sometimes sound like a foreign language and you really have to remain alert because if you miss a few words, your brain can’t easily fill in the blanks. Because most of the actors did an amazing job at conveying not just the text, but interpreting it – imparting emotion and subtleties in their body language and facial expressions.

Some of the casting was very creative (especially the 3 women playing Juliet), and some at first confusing (several men’s parts were played by women, perhaps because there were simply more girls than boys in the academy?). There were several of songs to break up the dialogues, and two of them featured simple but very effective Jerome Robbins-like choreography.

Very few of these students will likely realize their dreams of becoming professional actors, but this training will definitely serve them well in whatever future careers they pursue, since learning to be comfortable in your body and comfortable in front of an audience, to communicate and express yourself, are all skills that will come in handy in most professions.   And while Geva does charge tuition for the program, scholarships are available; the entire back side of the one-page program was devoted, in a very tiny font, to thanking all of the organizations and individuals whose support contributed to this and other educational programs at Geva. For more information on auditioning for Summer Academy 2016, or regarding Geva in general, visit their website: www.gevatheatre.org.

Geva Theater and Apartment Tour

mural on the side of the Geva apartment building

Last winter, Geva Theater held an open house for its new actor apartments, but I reluctantly stayed home, along with most of the guests who rsvped, since a blizzard was raging. They had just completed renovation on 11 apartments in the Merkel Donohue building, 150 steps from the theater (to replace the existing apartments out in Gates). Since then, I have heard positive feedback from the actors, not just on the proximity, but on the little touches that make their roughly two-month stay away from home more comfortable, like blackout curtains on the windows, so they can sleep late after performance nights. So I was excited by a recent invitation to see them before the next cast appears, and to get a ‘hard hat’ tour of this summer’s theater renovations as well.

Each loft apartment is roughly 560 square feet, and although they have slightly different layouts, they all have the same furniture, to adhere to Actors’ Equity rules (yes, their contracts even specify apartment details!). We were all impressed with how bright and airy the compact apartments felt, and someone commented that they are nicer than some of the actors’ apartments in New York City. In addition to living space, Geva also provides the actors with passes to Harro East, and local organizations like Hart’s and the Little Theatre provide discounts to the actors, as well.

The Rehearsal Hall

New dressing room

Back at the theatre, we toured the top floor of the building, which has been renovated as part of the recent capital campaign. As we emerged from the staircase, you could hear a chorus of “Oh, wow!”s at the transformation. They’ve opened up the library, rehearsal space, and kitchen, so it feels completely different. And the rehearsal hall has new flooring with a creative design that will allow easier measurement for staging. Finally, we descended to the basement, where the Green Room and dressing rooms are. The old spaces were dingy and depressing, but the new rooms are spacious and inviting. There is no question that all of these new actor spaces will help Geva continue to attract top quality talent. There is even a website the actors use to rate the accommodations of regional theaters, so word will definitely spread.

Peggy, fellow Trustee

Next summer, the theater will undergo additional renovations – this time, to the public spaces, to enhance the audience experience. Among other things, a new donor lounge will be created above the entrance, and a grand staircase will be installed to allow audience members to access it as well as the balcony. The elevator will also be connected to the balcony, and the extra egress will relieve some of the bottleneck that currently exists after each performance. The building is approaching its 150th birthday in a few years, but by the time it does, it will look and function as if it were built in this century.

It was a Grand Night for Singing at FLO!

After hearing a presentation a few months ago by Gerald Floriano, Artistic Director, about Finger Lakes Opera (FLO), a number of friends and I decided to make the journey to Geneseo for their performance of A Grand Night for Singing, a musical revue of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs (we weren’t quite ready to take the opera plunge).

Floriano explained that FLO was in its third year of performances at SUNY Geneseo; the first, in 2013, was simply a concert of various opera selections, and last year’s production of Bizet’s Carmen was completely sold out. This year, in addition to staging Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in the Wadsworth Auditorium, they were presenting this revue, in a smaller space on the campus. Eager to support the arts, and to hear some classics from the American Songbook, 13 of us made it a girls’ night out, with dinner beforehand at the Big Tree Inn.

 

Doty Hall was the perfect space for this intimate show, and was nearly sold out. Five extremely gifted singers, accompanied by five equally talented musicians, filled the space with music. It was refreshing to hear unamplified voices, and to have the opportunity to appreciate the vocal training required to project and enunciate. From the chilling opening medley, I was transported. The evening offered songs from the familiar (Carousel, South Pacific, and The King and I dominated, although Walter Bobbie, who wrote the book for the original Broadway show, threw us a few bones from Cinderella and Sound of Music) to the less recognizable (including selections from Allegro, Flower Drum Song, and Me and Juliet).

The choreography was just enough to keep the songs moving, and the theatre was small enough that every seat provided a great view of the stage and the performers’ facial expressions. There was almost no dialog to interrupt the music, so when the evening ended, two hours and 30+ numbers later, we wished it were a concert with encores, instead of a scripted show. I drove home with snippets of “Impossible” and “Something Wonderful” running through my head. Wouldn’t it be great if they did Putting it Together or Marry Me a Little next year?