Jellicles Can And Jellicles Do: Meet Skimbleshanks/Macavity

He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, The Flying Squad’s despair. For when they reach the scene of crime…Macavity’s not there! Macavity! Macavity! But also the railway cat? Meow-meow? Double trouble with this feline feature!

Thank you for giving us a moment of your time, if you could tell us who you are and who you play that would be a great place to start!

Stanley Evans: I’m Stanley Evans. I play Skimbleshanks and Macavity.

Talk to me about Skimbleshanks and Macavity.

Stanley: They are very different from each other and actually different from other parts I’ve played before. Skimbleshanks is a very posh cat who runs the railway train. I see him as kind of a paternal cat but nobody talks a whole lot about that. It’s all in the music. He takes care of the train and is a boss cat. Macavity…he’s not there. He’s very mysterious. He’s never there. And he’s a villain. He’s my first villain, which is a fun one to be. His main villainous thing is that he’s a criminal. He has one fight, which is fun. The only thing I’m nervous about with playing both of these cats is quick-changes. Catsuits aren’t easy to get in and out of!

Why did you want to be a part of Cats?

Stanley: I figured it was going to challenge me. There were a lot of shows going on in the area at the time, so it was definitely difficult to pick, but I haven’t been in too many ‘dance-heavy’ shows. I don’t regard myself as too strong of a dancer. In the few short months that we’ve been rehearsing that’s already changed a lot. It’s demanding more of me, dance-wise, than any other show ever has.

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

Stanley: What does it mean to be a Jellicle Cat? Well, it means that I’m vying to be reborn. I’m vying against all the other cats for that. But there’s also a family element there. All the cats are in all the numbers together. It’s a very heavy ensemble show. We’re all working together, but it’s also a competition.

(L to R) Percy, Lucy, and Doja the cats, courtesy of TheatreBloom's Mandy Gunther. — (L to R) Percy, Lucy, and Doja the cats, courtesy of TheatreBloom’s Mandy Gunther.

Do you have any cats?

Stanley: I don’t have any cats. I just moved out from my mom’s house a year ago and she has six. I miss having all the cats around, but right now I work too often and am not around enough to properly take care of a cat. I mean, they take care of themselves? But I would feel bad. Plus my mom has the one cat that has some disease where he wobbles and walks funny. So she ends up taking very heavy care of her cats, so that’s the only part that kind of puts me off wanting to have a cat with me. Because they would need a lot of care and attention that I’m just not home enough right now to provide.

We learn that all cats have three names. Skimbleshanks and Macavity are your cats’ ‘more dignified names’ and while we can never know their ‘secret names’ that they call themself, what do you think their ‘family daily use’ name is? What are the humans calling them every day?

Stanley: Well jeez. Macavity I have no clue! Skimbleshanks, I know, is Stanley. And that will pop up in the show. As far as Macavity…I’m not allowed to tell you, he’s a mystery!

I feel like they might call him ‘damnit’ or ‘a**hole’.

Stanley: Totally. “Damnit a**hole Cat.” That sounds about right for Macavity.

What has been your big personal takeaway from this experience with Cats?

Stanley: I think my big personal takeaway is just not to doubt your ability before you dive too deep into something. I’ve been in a lot of shows recently, and like I said, I didn’t regard myself as too heavy of a dancer. You definitely feel outclassed beginning a show like Cats with people who are professional dancers. But you have to get over that pretty quick because if you go in upset and disgruntled watching everybody else be better than you, they’re going to stay better than you. You definitely have to come in, have an open mind, and learn. Bambi has been very good with providing us resources. She records every time we learn a new dance and that gets made available to us so that we can continue to learn from it. You just have to work hard and put your best foot forward and this experience has helped me really improve a lot.

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

Stanley: Magical.

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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