Skip to content

Curtain closes on CATS season

The curtain has closed on another season of the Cultural Arts Theatre Series (CATS) at the CATS Theatre. The 2016/17 season introduced local audiences to everything from jazz and folk to step dancing and fiddle music.
Everything Fitz was just one of the acts featured during the 2016/17 Cultural Arts Theatre Series. Tickets are now on sale for the 2017/18 series.
Everything Fitz was just one of the acts featured during the 2016/17 Cultural Arts Theatre Series. Tickets are now on sale for the 2017/18 series.

The curtain has closed on another season of the Cultural Arts Theatre Series (CATS) at the CATS Theatre.

The 2016/17 season introduced local audiences to everything from jazz and folk to step dancing and fiddle music.

“Every show is different,” said Lorraine Robinson, CATS committee member. “It’s our mandate to bring in a number of different genres for people. We had a really good variety and a number of the shows were sold out at the beginning of the season. That all went really well.”

Each year the committee brings in six performers to wow and entertain audiences throughout the fall and winter months.

Robinson said their season opener Six Guitars was a standout performance.

“The first one was so unusual and that one was really good,” she said. “It was one fellow that played six different characters and they all played different styles of the guitar, so he could move from one character to another seamlessly.”

Other crowd favourites she mentioned were Lisa Brokop’s The Patsy Cline Project and fiddling and step-dancing troupe Everything Fitz.

“That one was a real crowd pleaser,” she said. “They’re just consummate performers. They know how to keep everyone happy.”

While not every performer is a fan favourite, audiences are sure to get exposure to new and different music.

“People really do appreciate that we’ve continued on with that,” she said. “I think it would easy to go with one genre that we know would be successful, but then we’d lose out, as far as our mandate on bringing other ones in. Some of them go over better than others, but I think from that we just move forward.”

With next year’s performers already booked for the stage, Robinson said it will be an all-Canadian line up to coincide with Canada’s 150th anniversary.

First up is A Tribute to Stompin’ Tom featuring Tim Hus on Oct. 6. The following month, blues musician Jim Byrnes will grace the stage Nov. 3.

In the new year, piano virtuoso Michael Kaeshammer will perform his boogie-woogie jazz Jan. 12 — his first visit to Westlock in more than 15 years.

“Whoever was choosing people at the time could see his talent, and so here was just a young kid, maybe 18, 19 years old, and we’re getting to bring him back now,” she noted. “There’ll be people that see him at this show who would have been there at the original show. Some of our season ticketholders have had their seats for over 25 years.”

Clarinettist Christopher Hall and the Comic Quartet will follow up on Feb. 2 with their classic twist during a wine and cheese night.

A few weeks after that, soul and jazz singer Krystle Dos Santos will bring her groovy beats to Westlock Feb. 23 and Toronto bluegrass and country act Union Duke will close out the series March 23.

Show times for the 2017-18 season will be a bit earlier, starting at 7:30 p.m.

So far the society has sold 123 season passes for the upcoming year, on top of 15 new customers who are looking for seats.

“We were really happy with our season ticketholders, we’ve got a really steady base of season ticketholders so we always like to acknowledge how much we appreciate them,” she said.

Tina Wold committee member in charge of ticket sales said season pass sales are on target with last year’s numbers.

“(There’s) new customers, new people to our crowd, to our audience so we’re thrilled with that,” she said.

For past audience members, they can drop by The Flower Shoppe and speak to Tina by May 31 to buy or reserve a season pass.

Passes are $150 for six shows and season ticketholders can reserve their seating.

“That’s the savings from not going into the city — the driving, the parking and everything else. It’s our little town,” Wold noted.

As an added bonus, season ticketholders are entered into a draw to win a free season’s pass for next year. Dean Madell’s name was drawn at the Everything Fitz show last month for his free upcoming season.

Although the regular CATS season may be done for the summer, its family and kid-friendly subsidiary, the KITKAT (Kids In Theatre) series is putting on a show coming up May 28 at 2 p.m. Flyin’ Bob and his one-man, three-ring circus act is taking over the stage that Sunday afternoon.

“He does a lot of acrobatics and things like that,” Robinson said. “He is fantastic for a family show.”

Tickets are $15 each for anyone ages 4 and up and can be purchased at the Flower Shoppe May 5.

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks