Geva Summer Curtain Call

Maggie Brooks & Skip Greer

When I joined the Board of Trustees of Geva and was asked to choose a committee, I jumped on the Education / Summer Curtain Call Committee. Charlie and I are very interested in education in Rochester, and I've been on fundraising committees in the past, so it felt like a no-brainer (plus, it fit with my schedule...). And although I'm much better at purchasing fundraiser silent auction items than soliciting them, I steeled my courage to ask a few contacts for donations (and mostly received them!). And I did manage to persuade the committee to add the ability to purchase a table; even though it's not a sit-down dinner, I thought it would be nice to have a reserved place to perch while dining from the buffet, and to gather with friends. And since this year Geva was adding mobile bidding, I wouldn't feel the need to hover over the silent auction items I was protecting...

Pamela Reed Sanchez 2nd from right,
Tom Parrish on the left

Summer Curtain Call (SCC) is Geva's annual fundraiser, to raise “the resources needed to sustain Geva's 28 educational programs, which annually serve over 40,000 Rochesterians young and old.... Over 7,000 students and teachers attended subsidized Student Matinees this season...including 1,600 Rochester City School District students who participated through (their) free Passport Program.” Geva also provides Discovery Guides and in-classroom workshops, and they pioneered the Stage Door Project, which partners with a local high school to help them produce a parallel production (this past year, it was Little Shop of Horrors).

with Sandy Frankel

SCC is quite an event. There are the usual silent and live auctions and raffles, but the thing that distinguishes it from other fundraisers is the skit. Mark Cuddy, Artistic Director, creates a performance based on the final show, and populates it with notable Rochesterians. So this year, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike became Lovely & Sandy & Maggie & Ward...& More! Warren, Frankel, Brooks, and Stare shared the stage with about 25 other cast members, including artist Wendell Castle, and my friends Pamela Reed Sanchez (director of the Seneca Park Zoo Society) and Bernie Todd Smith.

Bernie Todd Smith 2nd from left

Maggie Brooks absolutely stole the show. Mark wrote her the best lines, and much of the plot revolved around her imminent retirement as Monroe County Executive. And of course she can act - after all, she's a politician - but she can also sing! Everyone was funny, and my only wish was that Skip's nightshirt had been a few inches longer (probably his, too!). Lovely and Ward were also very funny. The opening performance by the alumni from last year's Summer Academy left most of us wanting more. 

Wendell Castle, Lovely Warren, and Ward Stare

The event was sold out, and even though I bid on multiple items, I somehow managed to purchase only one (but it should be blog-worthy...). By the end of the night, over $185,000 had been raised, as the auctioneer said, "for the kids!"