RETURN TO THE JELLICLE BALL: MEETING THE NEWEST 2024 ADDITIONS TO THE CLOWDER OF COCKPIT IN COURT’S CATS: Bustopher Jones

Different types who wear a day coat— pants with stripes and cutaway coat— perfect fits— or is it cats in spats? Man Mel Brooks is gonna come for me. What show is this again?

Wayne Ivusich as Bustopher Jones (Version 2!) in Cats at Cockpit in Court

Hello, Wayne! Welcome back to the Jellicle Ball! Remind us who you are and what you’re doing here?

Wayne Ivusich: I’m still Wayne Ivusich. And I’m playing Bustopher Jones again— I like to call him Bustopher Version Two.

Bustopher Version Two. That’s got a nice ring to it! Tell me a little bit about Bustopher V2 and how he might be different from BustopherOG?

Wayne: Well there’s a lot more room on this stage to do what I need to do. And I’ve been given a little bit more freedom to— as Nathan Scavilla puts it— “have fun with it.” It’s essentially the same character and Bustopher Jones is the man about— well— the cat about town. Let’s put it like that. He always goes and eats the scraps of the finest establishments in the area and only those. Nothing else. Everybody loves him. All the clowder loves him because he’s a bon-viveur. He’s a tier above everybody else. Not a Deuteronomy level but up there. And he’s revered and he’s liked and everybody loves him and wants to be by him. He just enjoys the attention and the camaraderie. Bustopher will soak it up like cream and he’ll just go for it.

It’s actually really nice coming back here (Cockpit in Court) because I’ve done so many shows here over the decades so it’s like coming home. It’ll be nice to play that character in this environment. As we’re recording this*, we the cast are getting to take a look at the stage for the first time and it’s pretty impressive.

Are you and Bustopher similar or different? Are you out fine-dining every night? Tell us!

Wayne: Well, I would like to think so, but no because who could afford it these days? But size-wise, we’re pretty much right on. I’m one of only three cats that doesn’t have to wear a leotard. Thank God, because nobody wants to see me in a leotard! I am thrilled to not be in a leotard!

Oh my goodness! Now why come out and audition for Cats if you’ve done it before?

Wayne: Because I had so much fun doing it before with Bambi. Well, you know Bambi. You want to be in her production. Beyond want. You desire to be in her production because you know she’s going to do a wonderful job regardless of the show. And this is like her other child. This is like her fifth or eighth one or something like that?

I think it’s actually only her third…or at least her third in the 15 years that I’ve been covering local theatre.

Wayne: She brings a different perspective to it every time she does it. And it’s going to be a complete difference this time in attitude and atmosphere compared to what we did in Havre de Grace a while ago. Obviously here the size of the cast and the size of the space are bigger and different but she’s developed that difference in us too. You look forward to that. You like those kind of directors. You want them! They don’t leave us alone, hanging out there, they help us, they guide us. Bambi is a beacon. And it’s her birthday today too!

Hank, the 13.5yr old black-lab Grandpup.

Happy Birthday to Bambi!! Now this is your— you’ve done more than just Cats with her, haven’t you?

Wayne: Cats twice. Urinetown up at Harford (Phoenix Festival Theatre) and there’s another one or two in there somewhere. So this is my fourth or possibly my fifth show working with her over the years. I’ve been doing this a long time, things get fuzzy past 1990.

Oh gosh. I was four, Wayne.

Wayne: Thanks. I definitely wasn’t. I’m the oldest cat in this bunch.

And that’s okay! What does it mean to you this time around to be a Jellicle Cat?

Wayne: What does it mean to be a Jellicle Cat this time around. It means that you’re part of an organism. Almost 30 different cats or maybe more than 30 different cats— but we’re all one. Being a Jellicle Cat means that you have that distinction, that sense of camaraderie that I mentioned earlier, you just mill inside that clowder and it’s a good feeling. As an actor, we cherish those kinds of shows where you’re so close. Into the Woods is a good example of that. Titanic way back, whenever we see each other we still get all emotional, and that was what— eight years ago? Ten years ago? It’s a really, really good feeling, and you definitely get that with this bunch.

That is so wonderful to hear. Now I do remember when I spoke to you two years about this— a very distinctive “hell no!” when I asked if you had cats. So we know that you’re a dog household. Do you still have dogs?

Wayne: Indirectly, yes. The furry friend that we had at the house during the last run of Cats crossed the rainbow bridge—

I am so very sorry to hear that.

Wayne: Thank you. But, we have granddogs to take care of. My daughter has a 13-and-a-half-year-old black lab named Hank and he’s at our house right now. And my son has a three-and-a-half-year-old enormous malamute, Ozzie, who is 90% fur. And we watch them every now and then, and we watch another friends’ two small dogs from time to time. There’s always a dog in the house. We always have dog food available; we get our dog fix.

We know that cats have three names. The name that the humans call them or their daily use name, their more dignified name, and their third, secret name that we can never know. What do you think the humans are calling Bustopher Jones?

Wayne: Fatso. No question. Gotta be Fatso. “There goes Fatso. Put out some scraps.” And then I’ll turn my nose up at it and move along to a fancier establishment!

I love it. What has been your big personal takeaway this time around?

Wayne: I love seeing new faces doing theatre in the area. It’s not just the same old farts like me. I think we counted— there’s six of us from the Havre de Grace performance that came on board to perform again— but that means she found 20-some-odd…30-some-odd people to come out for the first time and do this show. Some of them I knew, but most of these younger people, I don’t know! It’s wonderful getting to see and meet all these new faces. And as an aside, it’s finally nice to be able to do a show with Katie Sheldon.

So this is about as crazy as when Katie & Gary (Gary Dieter) sat down to interview with me a few years ago— I think the same calendar year as Tidewater’s Cats, they were in Mary Poppins together as Mary & Bert and they’re both well-known names in the area and yet had never previously done a show together. That seems unfathomable to me. That you, who has been doing shows in the area for decades and decades hasn’t yet crossed a stage with her.

Wayne: We were in the ill-fated Kiss Me, Kate! We joked at the first rehearsal for this and said “We’re finally going to get to do a damn show together!” And here we are! I’m looking forward to that.

I love it. If you had to sum up your experience here at Cockpit in Court with Bambi and Cats using just one word, which word would you use?

Wayne: Happiness.

Cats plays July 19^th 2024 through August 4^th 2024 in the F. Scott Black Theatre of The Robert and Eleanor Romadka College Center at the Community College of Baltimore County Essex Campus— 7201 Rossville Boulevard, Essex MD. For tickets call the box office at (443) 840-2787 or purchase them online.

*this being July 1^st 2024

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