Cathy

After bravely battling cancer for the last few years, my friend, Cathy Casazza, passed away this last Monday. I didn’t have the privilege to know Cathy for that long, but I feel like I have known her all my life. I was fortunate to get cast with Cathy in Assassins last year at the Studio Theatre and we quickly became friends over the course of the show. Cathy was kind, generous, and so talented. I loved sharing the stage with her and watching her work.

The scenes Cathy and Erica Dumond did together as Sara Jane Moore and Squeaky Fromme were highlights of the show for me. They had such great comic chemistry together! I had to sit behind them during their first scene and I always had to look away because I knew I would be tempted to laugh or smile as their two crazed characters bonded over a gun and a bucket of chicken.

Besides her comic timing, Cathy had a beautiful voice that helped anchor Assassins in place. During the oh-so-difficult Something Just Broke, it was her voice that helped guide me through the challenging tempo and lyrics. She was the beacon I tried to follow and, though I missed my mark probably more times than not, she never wavered.

After Assassins, my good fortune continued when I was once again cast with Cathy in God’s Favorite at the Muncie Civic. Since our characters never interacted in the show, I didn’t get a chance to see her that often during rehearsals, but, when I did, she always welcomed me with a smile and a hug. Man, I’m going to miss those hugs.

In God’s Favorite, Cathy played Rose Benjamin, a wealthy and flighty woman, the type of character Billie Burke often played in screwball comedies of yore. Cathy had the character down pat with her mannerisms and slightly chipped voice. I can still picture her looking so damn elegant in her jewelry and fur coat.

It was planned for Cathy and I to do Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in the Studio Theatre for the upcoming 2009-2010 season. I would play George to her Martha and I think we were both excited by the prospect of doing the show together. Hell, I still am and it hurts knowing we will never get the chance.

I’m so grateful to have known Cathy and to have her as my friend. She was a good woman and she will be so sorely missed.

My condolences to her husband, Bill, her parents, Carol and Clarence, her brother, Jeff, and all of her family and many friends.