DANBURY, CONN. — A faculty trio again will transform themselves into the popular “Schmooze Brothers,” two administrators named Walter will showcase their formidable musical talents, and students, faculty and staff from all corners of Western Connecticut State University will take the stage on Thursday, Feb. 22, in the Tenth Anniversary Child Care Cabaret to benefit the WestConn Child Care Center.

The annual cabaret, which made its debut in 1996, has raised more than $50,000 to purchase enrichment and educational tools and to assist students who depend on the center to care for their children while they pursue academic studies at WestConn. Maureen Casey Gernert, director of the WCSU Career Development Center and chair of the WCSU Child Care Board of Advisors, said the center has disbursed nearly $32,000 in need-based child-care grants to aid student parents since its opening in September 1997.

The cabaret will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Ballroom of the new Westside Campus Center on the university’s Westside campus, Lake Avenue Extension in Danbury. Admission is open to the public; the ticket price is $15 for the general public, and $5 for WestConn students with valid identification. The doors will open at 6 p.m., and a pre-show supper will be available for $10. The program also will include a raffle and silent auction, as well as dancing to the jazz and big-band music of the WCSU Jazz Orchestra immediately following the performance.  

Professor of Theatre Arts Frank Herbert, Child Care Cabaret founder, producer and perennial “Schmooze Brother” with theatre arts department Chair Sal Trapani and communication department Chair Bill Petkanas, vowed this year’s performance “should be the best ever.” Backed by the “house band” quartet of cabaret musical director Mike Minard, Dan Mustin, Chris Aguzzi and Petkanas, the cabaret program will feature talented student singers in solo and group performances, ranging from the WestConn a-capella group led by Brenda Huggins to a medley of show tunes presented by Jerrial Young.

Among the highlights of the program will be a duet by “The Two Walters,” back by popular demand after their critical success in the 2005 cabaret. Herbert noted that Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Walter Bernstein “plays a mean guitar and clearly was a rocker in a previous life,” while Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Walter Cramer “brings a deep, resonant Broadway quality to his performance.”     

Herbert credited Gernert, Student Center/Student Life Director Dr. Paul M. Simon and other members of the Child Care Center board for their organizational work in staging the annual event. The cabaret offers a special opportunity to showcase WestConn’s well-known and hidden musical talents, from the university’s administrative offices and classrooms to its maintenance department and mailroom, he observed.

“There are some amazing talents on this campus,” Herbert said. “It has been great fun to provide the right setting for folks to give of their time and enjoy their friends at the university as they perform while raising funds for a great cause. This is an evening where people come together with no agenda other than to have a good time to support our students in need of help with their children while attending school.”  

Gernert observed the cabaret was launched to raise seed money for startup of the Child Care Center a decade ago, and since then has become the center’s primary fundraising event to support student grants. The center, located on the lower level of Alumni Hall on the Midtown campus, currently enrolls approximately 36 children from ages 3 through 5 in the professionally licensed child care program serving WestConn faculty, staff and students, and the area community. The Child Care Center has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

 

Aside from raising needed resources for the center, the Child Care Cabaret “also is a great celebration of community at WestConn,” Gernert said. “As this marks our center’s 10th anniversary, we are planning a few surprises — so don’t miss out on the fun!”

For pre-paid table reservations, call (203) 837-8250. Tickets will be available at the door; advance tickets may be purchased at the Information Desk of the Student Center on the Midtown campus or by phone at (203) 837-8499. For more information, call Gernert at (203) 837-8266.