Jellicles Can And Jellicles Do: Meet Pussywillow

Can you ride on a broomstick to places far distant? Are you familiar with bell, candle, and book? Who better than to ‘know the book’ than the someone from the directing team? Purrpurr.

Becky Flickinger at a rehearsal for Cats

Thank you so much for giving us some of your time! Tell us who you are and how you got involved with this production of Cats.

Becky Flickinger: I’m Becky Flickinger and my role with this production is the assistant director and Tidewater Liasson/Production Manager.

Why did you want to be involved with this production of Cats in that capacity?

Becky: True story, I didn’t start out as the assistant director. I was slated to be the stage manager. But when Mark (Gus the Theatre Cat, Mark Briner) became a performer in the show, we needed a Tidewater representative for the production side of things. So Bambi asked me to be her assistant director so that I could still be involved with the production and facilitate that need to have a Tidewater representative involved.

What is it that you love about Cats?

Becky: True story. I’ve only ever seen it once and that was when Bambi put it on the first time, six years ago. Any Bambi show is amazing. To see how she transforms an environment into what she wants the audience to become absorbed in is astonishing. A Bambi show is always so audience immersive. Having the opportunity to work on any Bambi show is a feather in my cap because she is just amazing.

Do you have a favorite cat of all the cats in Cats?

Becky: Well, I’m a little biased because my daughter Sammi is Mistoffelees. And I do like Mistoffelees. But I honestly cannot say that I truly have a favorite because any one cat by themselves would not pull off the magic that is Cats.

What does it mean to you to be a Jellicle Cat?

Becky: To me, to be a Jellicle Cat is to have free reign and freedom. And unfortunately, maybe that means without a family. But they create their own family from beginning to end.

Do you have cats?

Becky: I don’t. But both of my daughters do.

You have a child that is not Sammi-Mistoffelees?

Becky: Yes. I have a Delaney-not-in-this-show. There are four of us. Me, Steve (husband Steve Flickinger, who is currently also not involved with Cats,) Sammi and Delaney. Growing up, we weren’t allowed to have cats because my parents and my brother were all allergic to cats. But I loved spending time at my aunt’s house because she had two cats. Of course, my mom would be a total wreck by the time we left my aunt’s house because of her allergies, but they weren’t allergic to dogs, so we went with dogs growing up.

Do you have a dog now?

Becky: We do have a dog. Her name is Skittles. She’s a rescue. A little bit of lab and a little bit of who knows what else. And I should mention, there is technically a cat in the house. Delaney is still at home, with her cat. Ricky. And Ricky has the tabby coloring. One back leg is tabby colored and the other back leg is totally white. And he has white front paws. So he’s wearing two gloves and a sock.

If you had to be a cat at the Jellicle Ball, your own cat of your own devising, what kind of cat would you be?

Becky: Most definitely a mischievous cat. Sneaking up on people, moving things around, and messing things up so that people don’t know why things are out of the ordinary. That would be me. And I’d be called Pussywillow.

What has been your big personal takeaway working on this production?

Becky: Watching this cast come together in this truly dance-heavy show…I’ve watched dancers become better dancers, I’ve watched people who aren’t dancers become dancers, and I’ve watched a vision go from a huge stage down to a more intimate space, pulling it out into the audience, which I’m totally excited for this. I cannot wait.

If you had to sum up the Cats experience in just one word, which word would you use?

Becky: Awe-inspiring.

Cats plays September 16^th 2022 through September 25^th 2022 with Tidewater Players, in residence at the Cultural Center at The Havre de Grace Opera House— 121 N. Union Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. For tickets call the box office at 667-225-8433 or purchase them online.

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