On June 16, three weeks from now, the big stage of the Sampson Community Theater will be inundated with cats — all kinds of cats as the Tony Award winning musical “Cats” opens with a wonderful cast of singers and dancers under the direction of L.J. Carr for eight performances.

One member of the cast is playing the part of a cat named Demeter. She is Taylor Blanchard who is a 15 year-old ninth grader at Sampson Early College High School who has spent her last seven summers performing on our stage in shows like Annie and The Sound of Music.

Taylor recently had an English assignment to write about what interested her and she elected to write a review of “Cats” a portion of which follows; “The setting of Cats is an old junkyard, these cats roam their own places in this old yard full of random pieces of car parts, windows, and everything else you can imagine being old. These cats are all meeting for this special occasion where many Jellicle cats, which are the types of cats they are, meet and decide who will be reborn. This process is very intricate in which they decide who will be reborn into the cat world again to retry their life as cats. Jellicle cats are very special, they can do very unique things such as balancing on wires and walking on bars. This musical shows who the possible candidates are for their rebirth and we meet many interesting characters who came in all kinds of shapes and sizes”

Many adults would be hard pressed to do as well as Taylor and we thank her for letting us use her material.

We are honored to have the sponsorship of “Cats” by Sampson Salvage Co. Inc. and Star Communications. We thank them for helping to keep the live arts alive in our county.

Angela Martin will once again have her very popular Summer Theater camp Aug. 8-11. See contact info below.

It is recommended that you get your tickets for “Cats” early because we expect some sellouts. Tickets are available at Inkspot, Matthews Gifts and at the box office during rehearsals.

Upcoming events

Cats — Currently in rehearsals. Performances June 16, 17, 18, 19 and June 23, 24, 25, 26.

Lion King Jr. — Sponsored by Prestage Farms. Director Angela Martin. Auditions June 18 and 25 at 9 a.m. for kindergarten to rising ninth graders. Eight shows Aug. 4-7 and Aug. 11-14

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream — Performances first two weekends of October. Auditions TBA.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — TBA

Community Theater Summer Camp — Angela Martin is directing. Aug. 8-11, 9 a.m. – noon each day. Contact Angela if interested to secure a spot for your child at 910-379-8737 or by email at [email protected].

Christmas show — TBA

Thoughts Until Next Week:

In memory everything seems to happen to music.

Memory…. is the diary that we carry about us.

Memory is so corrupt that you remember only what you want to; If you want to forget about something, slowly but surely you do.

By Bruce Caldwell

Contributing columnist

The cast of ‘Cats’ rehearses for the upcoming production of the play, which will be in June.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Cats-1.jpgThe cast of ‘Cats’ rehearses for the upcoming production of the play, which will be in June.

https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_Dr.-Bruce-Caldwell-4.jpg