Hitting the Buffalo to Albany Bike Tour

By Mary Beth Roach

When Dan Benedict, at the age of 85, asked his daughter Rachel Doan to go for a bike ride last summer, it wasn’t your typical Sunday ride in the park.

It was the 10th annual 400-mile, eight-day bicycle ride called “Cycling the Erie Canal,” sponsored by Parks & Trails New York.

Approximately 570 cyclists embarked on this historic and scenic tour in 2008 from Buffalo to Albany, traveling along sections of the canal’s towpath, the original Erie Canal, and the Seneca and Mohawk Rivers, and through such towns and cities as Buffalo, Lockport, Medina, Rochester, Pittsford, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, Camillus, Syracuse, Chittenango, Little Falls, Canajoharie, Scotia and, finally, Albany.

A resident of the community of Marbletown in the Catskill area, Dan said he had seen the riders in previous tours traveling through nearby Newark, and thought it would be interesting to take part. He invited Rachel, a biking enthusiast herself and one of Dan’s eight children, to join him.

Rachel, 52 at the time of the ride, was encouraged by her husband, Alan, to spend some quality time with her dad. She signed on.

For Joan Gardner, then 57, of Dewitt, it was her third tour, and it was to be the second one she did with husband, Bob, also 57 at the time. However, several days before the start of the tour, Bob decided he needed to stay home to tend to some medical concerns of his parents.

“In January [of ’08], I made a personal commitment to bike the canal in 2008 — after all, it was the 10th anniversary and I thought it would be a great T-shirt!,” Joan joked.

Joan’s first ride was in 2003. She and her then-Girl Scout co-leader, Anne Acevedo, also of Dewitt, had wanted to find a safe and healthy adventure for their Cadet troop, which included Joan’s daughter, Lindsay. When Joan had heard about the tour, she convinced Anne to try it to see if it was doable.

They not only found it doable, but a lot of fun.

“We laughed so hard and enjoyed the ride so much, that our husbands refused to be left behind,” she said. So both couples and three girls from Jamesville Dewitt High School Cadet Troop 47 joined in the 2004 tour.
Because the Gardners live close to the Dewitt branch of the Erie Canal, they were able to do their training right along the path, biking several days a week to Chittenango, where they would stop for ice cream, before heading back to Dewitt. As for the ice cream — you have to have an incentive, Joan chuckled.

Whatever the incentive, the scouts, the co-leaders and the husbands all completed the tour.

Training for the 2008 tour had Bob and Joan back on the canal path, heading to Chittenango, but this time, Joan laughed, it was for breakfast.

But shifting gears . . .

“It’s an incredible experience that takes weeks, months of preparation to be able to bike 400 miles in eight days,” she said.

She joined Curves for two months and got a jump start on strengthening her legs and heart. She also used a stationary bike at home and enrolled in a 10-week running program that enabled her to improve her cycling pace. Bob was an active member of the YMCA and worked out three times a week, riding the stationary bike.
Training was a little different for Dan and Rachel.

The oldest cyclist on the tour in 2008, Dan rides nearly every day, doing what his daughter calls a “country block” — nearly four miles, but Rachel had to begin her training in earnest.

“By the time we decided to do this, it was the tail end of May,” Rachel said. “I started to crunch miles after work.” The hilly terrain near Rachel’s home in Penn Yan helped in her training.

In getting ready for the 400-mile tour, Ride Director Al Hastings said, “The simplistic answer is to spend time on the bike. You should be able to ride 50 miles fairly comfortably prior to coming. Coming prepared to ride makes the event much more enjoyable and enables you to focus on things other than how uncomfortable you are.

The hardest part in the training is the sitting because your backside goes numb, Joan said. “No matter what, you’re going to hurt the first day,” said Bob, adding however, that by the second day, you’re doing better.

To assist riders in their preparation, the Parks & Trails New York’s Web site, www.ptny.org, has a detailed handbook, including a basic training schedule, advice on how to ready the bike, suggestions on how to pack, and information on overnight accommodations. Race staff also suggests the Adventure Cycling Web site, www.adventurecycling.org for more information.

The fee for the eight-day ride for adults is $525, but various ride options at different prices are available.
The deadline is June 20, after which there is an additional $50 fee.

Various facilities along the route provide green spaces for temporary camping areas called “tent cities,” for example, high school and college fields, Burnet Park in Syracuse, and Fort Stanwix National Park in Rome. Cyclists have the option of staying at nearby motels. Tractor-trailers carry much of the riders’ gear tents, sleeping bags, clothing from camp to camp, and volunteers at each “tent city” unload the trucks. The cyclists are treated to a hearty breakfast and dinner each day. Technical assistance is provided along the route, and each evening after dinner, the cyclists can visit attractions at the nearby towns or stay at the camp to enjoy the musical entertainment or guest speakers that the tour organizers arrange.

But it’s not all about pedaling. The tour included visits to various museums along the route, such as the Women’s Rights National Historic Site in Seneca Falls; and Fort Stanwix and the Erie Canal Museum and Village in Rome, where the cyclists enjoyed a ride on a horse-drawn packet boat along a section of the canal, reminiscent of water travel in the early 19th century.

“The whole thing is impressive,” Bob said. “It’s the little things that you enjoy.”

Although, Bob didn’t enjoy changing five flat tires along the way. His advice — make sure to have one or two spares and some fundamental tools and travel with somebody who knows how to change a tire.

Biking for the Benedicts and the Gardners has been a family affair for years.

The Gardners began biking as a family when Lindsay turned 10. She is now a sophomore at the University of Rochester. Over the years, they’ve been to the Rideau Canal in Ottawa and Harper’s Ferry in Virginia, and together with Anne and Russ Acevedo, the family did the Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City with 30,000-plus other cyclists in 2005.

The Benedict family‘s biking expeditions go back at least to the mid-1970s.

While a teenager, Rachel accompanied her father, then an American Baptist minister, and her mother, Edith, as they led bike trips between two church camps, one located southeast of Buffalo and the second one near Cooperstown.

And the Canal tour, itself, was a family affair for many.

Dan and Rachel were one of at least three father-daughter pairings, in which the fathers were all 80-plus! Jody Benedict joined her grandfather and aunt for part of the tour, and there was a father-son-grandson team from Scotia, N.Y.

Noting that there were several multi-generational families on the 2008 canal trip, Joan encourages grandparents to invite their grandchildren along to share the experience.

“Training for the trip would accomplish two things: Create beautiful memories and promote physical fitness as a lifestyle . . . As parents and grandparents, we are role models for our family.”

Rachel is considering taking part in this tour again, or the six-day, 200-mile Great Hudson Valley tour in August. Joan said she is also contemplating the Hudson Valley tour, although right now, her sights are set on several running events, including the Mountain Goat Run in Syracuse.

“This year’s challenge for me at age 58 is to run the Mountain Goat — 10 very hilly miles. On New Year’s Eve, I made the resolution — I want to be fit for the rest of my life — not just for “an event.” So keeping the goals will keep me from stopping,” she said.

Dan, however, is going to pass on both bike tours. “I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I’m looking for other goals,” he said. Dan’s favorite memory was that so many people were interested in achieving a common goal. “The whole experience of that many people, that intent on doing something ± everybody was aiming to get to Albany,” he said.

After the group reached their final destination in Albany, Dan told the story of how he was chatting with an 8-year-old girl who had taken the ride with her family.

“I said to her,’ when you turn 85, do it again.’”

Weather can be a challenge. During their stay in Syracuse, a heavy rainstorm had hit, followed by a full rainbow over “tent city.” The word “Eureka” on the tent in the foreground seems apt. While traveling through Seneca Falls, the heat was horrendous, Rachel said, and one of the residents there left out a garden hose with a sign inviting the riders to use it to get some relief.

Dan was in his signature red suspenders. “People ask me why I wear red suspenders,” he said. “I wear them to keep my pants up.”

Coach still working with those who want to master the game of golf

By Mary Beth Roach

“Golf is not an easy game. It’s the first thing we tell people.“

This is how local pro instructor Chuck Jonick starts off another round of lessons at the Cicero Golf Shop on Brewerton Road.

And some of the parents of the children he’s teaching one Saturday afternoon in May knowingly chuckle at the comment.

Ask anyone acquainted with Jonick, and they would all agree that he knows golf. He’s dedicated about two-thirds of his life to the sport.

“He loves the game of golf, teaches it 24 hours a day every day that he can. Rain, snow it doesn’t matter, he’s going to be there,” said Syracuse University basketball coach Jim Boeheim, who has been coached himself by Jonick.

Jonick’s passion for the game goes back to his teens, when he began caddying at the Lake Shore Country Club in Cicero, hitchhiking to work there along South Bay Road. He became an assistant pro during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and he has been at the Cicero Golf Shop since the early 1980s.

He started giving lessons at about the age of 18, and today, the instructor, who says he’s a little over 65, has helped thousands of Central New Yorkers with their game.

He has worked with some of the more well-known personalities in town — like Coach Boeheim, and golfers such as Jack McCabe and Denise Broton — to little Liam Ryan, 6, from Cicero, who took his first lesson in early May. At the Golf Expo this past February at the OnCenter in downtown Syracuse, Jonick said they did 150 mini-lessons in just two and a half days. And in many cases, generations within the same family have benefited from Jonick’s golfing guidance.

“Everyone I’ve talked to has taken lessons there,” said Wayne Morris, commissioner of the Town of Clay Recreation. The town has offered golf instruction with Jonick for nearly 40 years; and the neighboring Town of Cicero also partners with him.

Jon Cooley, currently director of recreation and public programs for Onondaga County Parks, got to know Jonick in the late of 1970s-early 1980s, when the former served as the director of parks and recreation of Cicero.

“Chuck is extremely hard working, ultra-enthusiastic, reliable,” Cooley said.

Ultra-enthusiastic is a great adjective to describe Jonick.

“The goal — I’ve always had this goal — to be the best in the country. I don’t take second best to nobody,” Jonick said, adding “I’ve worked very hard to be the best.”

He is able to give core guidance to beginners, particularly as they attempt to build an understanding of this fun yet frustrating game, Cooley added.

Jonick admits that the game can be challenging; so what keeps golfers teeing up season after season?
It’s called perseverance, he said.

When one is about to give up, the good shot will sometimes bring them back. But they might not know how they made that shot, he said. He strives to make those good shots more consistent for his players, so they get a better game.

“Consistency is the name of the game,” he said.

And Jonick stays consistent with his method of teaching — keep it simple; no big back swings — and get out there and play.

“If you want to learn to play, we’ll show you, but you’ve got to get out there,” he stressed.

The system Jonick uses is called square to square.

“On the pro tour,” he went on to explain, “more pros are doing this with short swings, meaning less margin for error . . . and the distance is still there.”

Jonick will start the kids’ lessons with a group talk, and then line them up and work with them on an individual basis, reviewing their grips, stances and swings.

The proper way to hold the club is hard, he tells the young golfers, but he continues to offer up encouragement, telling them it’s not going to happen in one day and assuring them it will get better.

The lessons may be firm, he said, but “we want to see them succeed.”

Jessica Sharron, 9, and her brother, Lucas, 8, of North Syracuse, took group lessons last year and they’re back for another round this spring.

“He’s taught me a lot about how to swing and how to hold the club,” Jessica said.

And Lucas must have learned well, if a game he shot with his dad, Dean, last summer is any indication. They were playing at Arrowhead West, when Lucas, hitting from the yellows, drove a shot an estimated 120 to 125 yards.

Whether group or private lessons, everyone will get Jonick’s individual attention. It’s the quality of the instruction that is important to him.

“Chuck is always very willing to work with people,” according to Julie Raddell, recreation supervisor for the Cicero Youth Bureau, Parks & Recreation. “Chuck clearly enjoys working with the public.”

His love of people is also evidenced in his ability to remember people’s name, calling out greetings to everyone coming through the golf shop and driving range.

A lot of the game, too, is in the equipment, Jonick said, remarking on how the technology in recent years, and the briskness of the business in the golf shop is proof of that.

“My hunch is he has given more collective lessons, directly touched more individuals than anyone in town,” Cooley said.

“We still like to look back and say we did something for them,” Jonick said.

SU offers courses for adults who want to “learn for the sake of learning”

By Mary Beth Roach

Now that Bob Burchhardt is retired, and his wife, Diana, works part time, the Tully couple is focusing on the next phase of their lives and looking at what develops.

So they enrolled in a new photography class, “Seeing the Light,” offered through Syracuse University Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI), a program begun in 2008 by SU ’s Gerontology Center for students at least 50 years old that integrates classroom work with a community service final project.

With the theme of AGE and engAGEment, the institute is all about “learning for learning’s sake,” said Madonna Harrington Meyer, director of the institute.

For years, these students may have been building careers and raising families, so they may not have had the opportunity to pursue some of their interests, Meyer said.

“There’s always a road not taken,” she said. “These classes pick up old passions.” Studies show, Meyer said, that lifelong learning is good for physical health, social health and cognitive health.

“The Lifelong Learning Institute provides a forum for learning about topics of interest in an engaging and supportive way, both on our own and with others,” according to Susie Weiss, of Cazenovia, also enrolled in the photography class.

The classes also extend beyond the boundaries of the classroom, in that the students’ final project involves them in the community.

For example, students in a recent class about elections were involved in registering voters; those in an astronomy class took their new knowledge and their telescopes to The Nottingham, a local retirement community, and shared views of the skies with the residents there; and students currently enrolled in the “Polar Heroes, in Print and on Film” class are scheduled to help with the penguin exhibit at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

Faculty from throughout the jniversity are invited to design classes for LLI, and Meyer’s staff evaluates them. Most of the classes are 16 hours, but the Institute is beginning to create some one-day programs.
Bob Gates, an English professor at SU and a professional photographer, has offered workshops with the Syracuse Camera Club. It was a natural progression, he said, to develop a photography class for LLI.
It was through the Camera Club that the Burchhardts met Gates, and when they learned of this new course, they decided to enroll.

Bob and Diana like being in a class with their contemporaries, and they appreciate the different skill levels that their fellow students bring.

“You learn from your peers as well as the instructor,” Diana Burchhardt said. Weiss also learned of this class through the Syracuse Camera Club, and shares Diana’s believe that you learn from not only the professor, but other students as well.

“It’s quite enjoyable to come together with new people who share an interest in a particular topic,” she said. “There is also something nice about taking a class with people who are a bit older, and who share some similar sensibilities and also bring a lifetime of different experiences together.”

Photography has been an interest of Weiss’ since childhood, and now she sees the class as a way to learn more about the field in general, to help her move from film to digital photography, and to do more with her photographs then store them away.

Weiss, who turns 55 in June, received her Master of Social Work from Syracuse University, with a concentration in gerontology, one of the first years that the Gerontology Center was in existence.
“I guess it’s a little full circle to now be taking a class through the Gerontology Center’s Lifelong Learning Center,” she said.

LLI will offer two classes in June. In “Art Now,” Professor Judith Meighan, of SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, will take students on walking tours of various art spaces in the area and discuss ways to make the programs at these facilities more appealing to mature visitors.

A second class will be “The Universe: From the beginning to the end?” with SU physics professor Carl Rosenzweig. According to a course description, this collaborative effort with downtown Syracuse’s Museum of Science and Technology (The MOST) “will explore with students the structure, origins and fate of the Universe, from the dramatic birth of everything in the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago.”
Working with some of the facilities and museums in Syracuse, Meyer said, allows them to focus on some of the wonderful aspects of Central New York.

It’s “a celebration of things we have here in Syracuse,” she said.

For more information on the program, visit www.maxwell.syr.edu
www.maxwell.syr.edu/cpr/gerontology and click on the Lifelong Learning Institute link.

Christine Lightcap embodies spirit, liveliness of Syracuse theater

By Lou Sorendo

She is the diva of Syracuse theater. Christine Lightcap’s illustrious career has included acting, directing and producing. She is widely regarded as one of the top theatrical talents in Syracuse.
Her lovely home in Manlius is filled with colorful publicity posters of shows she’s done in the past, and her trophy case is packed with awards that she has earned over the years.

Most notably, she earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the SALT Academy—Syracuse Area Live Theater—and as actress-director-producer, she has been honored for “outstanding individual contributions to area theater” by the Syracuse Theater Alliance.

She is the founder and executive director of The Talent Company, a Syracuse-based semi-professional theater company.

Lightcap has presented over 200 productions at numerous venues including The Civic Center, Landmark Theater, Springside Inn, Three Rivers Inn, Turning Stone Casino & Resort, and NewTimes Theater and has toured numerous dinner theater shows to major hotels and restaurants throughout Central and Northern New York.

As an actress she has played leading roles in over 100 productions. She received her theatrical training at Syracuse University, as well as in New York City and Hollywood.

A member of Actors’ Equity and SAG, her work as an actress has taken her on both national and international tours, Off Broadway, and to regional theaters and summer stock. Other credits include dinner theater, film, industrials, and numerous radio and television commercials.

“I want to do what I love as much as I can for as long as I can,” she said during a recent interview at her Manlius home.

The Talent Company recently received 26 nominations at the 2009 SALT Awards Ceremony, including 14 for its production of “The Producers” which, among others, won the People’s Choice SALT Award for Best Production of the Year. Lightcap was also nominated for director of the year for “High School Musical” and for actress of the year.

The SALT Awards are “Syracuse’s answer to the Tony Awards,” Lightcap said. Celebrating its silver anniversary, The Talent Company has presented the CNY premieres of such Broadway hits as “A Chorus Line,” “Grease,” “Nunsense,” “Chicago,” “Footloose,” “The Full Monty,” and “Copacabana.”
The Talent Company had humble beginnings in 1984, starting with dinner theater at the Marriott in Syracuse and the Sheraton in Liverpool.

In 1985, Lightcap got a huge break when she received the rights to “A Chorus Line,” a show she has since produced multiple times.

The Talent Company was the first in the country to obtain the rights to “A Chorus Line” while it was still playing on Broadway. “It was very exciting to see the long line for auditions at the Civic Center,” she said. “The entire hall was filled with people there to audition, as well as news photographers and reporters.”
For the past 15 years, The Talent Company has produced at least three Broadway musicals a season at the NewTimes Theater located in the Art & Home Center at the New York State Fairgrounds.

Her legacy­­­—The NewTimes Theater, originally known as The Empire Theater, was created thanks to Lightcap’s efforts. She proudly heralds the creation of the theater as one of her foremost accomplishments.
The Talent Company formed an agreement with then fair director Wayne Gallagher to renovate the theater in exchange for a contract to produce shows.

“It was my dream theater. It cost Talent Company a fortune, but it was worth it. It was unique and beautiful. The Talent Company renovated the space by enlarging and building a proscenium stage, putting in equipment to accommodate scenery, curtains, and lights, and creating a three-terraced cabaret-style theater where audiences can sit comfortably and enjoy snacks and beverages at their tables.

The design in Lightcap’s head was transferred to blueprints and approved by the state. “It took months, but we made it just in time to open our first show there, ‘Damn Yankees,’ in 1994,” she said.

The theater’s name changed after Art Zimmer, publisher of the Syracuse New Times, became its sponsor.
Zimmer recently shared his thoughts in regards to the impact Lightcap has had on Syracuse community theater.

“In community theater, Chris along with Joe and Pat Lotito, who founded the Salt City Playhouse, have had more impact on community theater than any other people in Central New York,” Zimmer said. “Chris has been at it longer, has done more shows, and has done better shows than just about anyone else in community theater,” he added.

What makes her such a success? “She’s a perfectionist, and it drives the people she works with crazy. The end result is the best that is possible,” he added. “She strives for perfection in all aspects of the production.”

The down economy—The current recession has had a toll on the entertainment business, with live theater being no exception.

“Box office sales are down everywhere, including ours,” Lightcap said. In January and February of 2007, The Talent Company produced “High School Musical,” which proved highly successful.

“It sold out before we opened,” said Lightcap. “We put on 18 performances, added three more, and still had hundreds of people on a waiting list. The following summer when we re-mounted it, the show did not experience the same level of success. I’m sure the economy and gas prices of over $4 a gallon last summer played some part in this.”

Asked about the younger generation, Lightcap said, “They are not as ‘live theater-savvy’ as in the past. They’re more interested in spending $60 or $70 for a concert than $22 or $23 to go to live theater. It just doesn’t seem to interest them, unless maybe it’s ‘Hairspray’ or something like that,” she said.

What does Lightcap feel are the keys to drawing in new theater goers? “I wish I knew,” she said. “I try to bring in shows that I think people will enjoy, that are entertaining,” she said.
She notes that The Talent Company has always received excellent reviews from critics and audiences alike.
Despite efforts to drum up enthusiasm by word of mouth, mailers, and various advertising techniques, it’s difficult to draw new audiences.

“Maybe they just don’t care about seeing a particular show,” she said. “People say, ‘Do something new or different.’ However, there are shows that I can’t get the rights to, like ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Mama Mia,’ and others that are touring or enjoying Broadway revivals. The rights to ‘West Side Story,’ the show we’re doing this summer, were restricted until just recently, due to the Broadway revival.”

Lightcap’s hit list—Of all the Broadway hits that Lightcap has loved, she does have her favorites. “Phantom of the Opera” is certainly one, and her home has many images of the production in full view. “I saw it on Broadway four times, in London, and on tour,” she said.

She said she could never produce it because it would be cost prohibitive to do it right. It cost literally millions to originally produce on Broadway, mainly because of the show’s demand for elaborate pyrotechnics and special effects. The Majestic Theater needed to rebuild its roof to accommodate the pyrotechnics. “But I love the show,” she said.

Lightcap considers another of her personal favorites to be “A Chorus Line,” mainly because it is the quintessential show about the business of show business. “I’ve sat on both sides of the audition table, that is, as an actress, director, or producer. No matter what, during every rehearsal and performance, when Zach (the fictitious director in the show) says ‘We’re eliminating down!’ it just wipes me out.”

Why?—“Because this is a tough business. Everyone thinks that show business is glamorous, and I’m sure it can be. However, for the majority of performers, it’s all about perseverance and endurance in a business that hands out a lot of hard knocks and rejection,” Lightcap said.

“West Side Story” is another favorite, which The Talent Company has produced every five years since 1988, until last year when it was restricted due to the Broadway revival. The restriction was recently lifted, and Talent Company will be presenting its critically acclaimed production in July and August at the NewTimes Theater.

Lightcap recently spoke with Michael Amante, known as “The Fourth Tenor,” who performs in opera houses and concert halls around the world and has sung with Luciano Pavarotti. Michael played Tony for Talent Company’s first two productions of “West Side Story.”

Among the most challenging roles Lightcap has taken on was Mama Rose in “Gypsy,” when she defied a West Coast critic by pulling off a role he said she was too young to play, prior to the show’s opening. Furthermore, she had to absorb the role in only two weeks.

When his review of “Gypsy” came out, he opened it with “How unlike this critic to apologize in public,” and proceeded to give Lightcap a rave review. Another challenge was Dolly Gallagher Levi in Talent Company’s production of “Hello, Dolly!” a couple of years ago. Lightcap said she became terrified after seeing a picture of the many superstars who had played the role, including Carol Channing whom many people equate with Dolly. “They were all superstars and I am not. During a rehearsal, I suddenly realized I was playing Channing playing Dolly. I had to be me playing Dolly in order to be Dolly.” Lightcap won the SALT Award for best actress in a musical that year.

Her other favorite roles have been Agnes Gooch in “Mame,” Miss Hannigan in “Annie,” Mother Superior in “Nunsense, Jeanette in “The Full Monty,” Florence in the female version of “The Odd Couple” and Googie Gomez in “The Ritz.”

“I love comedy. I still remember a wonderful director who said, ‘It takes an onion to make you cry. It takes an actress to make you laugh.’ That has always stuck with me for whatever it’s worth. I want to make them laugh. I love comedy, and I love ‘shtick’. I’ve roller-skated on stage and fallen off so many chairs, beds, sofas and bar stools, it’s a wonder I haven’t broken my bones. But I also dearly love roles that are a blend of drama and comedy like Rose in “Gypsy,” Gittel in “See-Saw” and Ouiser in “Steel Magnolias.”

Defining ‘producer’—Lightcap said what producers do varies. In New York City alone, there are volumes written about what a producer does, but the main job is putting up the money for a show and often finding other investors. Depending on the show, they may contract with the writers, pay the royalties, and often have a say in the staff and the casting.

“Locally, some people who organize and coordinate the show for a theater company are called producers. They don’t put their own money into it. Some of us do both,” she said.

Besides securing the rights and the financial investment, Lightcap assembles a team that includes a director, choreographer, music director, costumer, set designer, set builder, lighting designer, sound designer and stage manager. She schedules auditions and rehearsals, casts for roles, pays the bills, does the publicity and program, and during rehearsals and performances ultimately oversees all aspects of the production.

“I love to see it progress from the ground up to opening night. Except for tech week,” she said.

“Tech week is the period of time approximately a week prior to opening when lighting, sound, costumes, wigs, crew, set moving, orchestra—all aspects of the show—come together and problems surface. It’s the week when if it can go wrong, it does. But we manage to make it through,” she said.

Health concerns—Stress caught up with Lightcap in 1998, when she required an angioplasty following a heart attack.

“The stress was big time,” she said. “I was producing 10-12 shows a year and this was a call to slow down.”
As a result of that setback, Lightcap places a big emphasis on keeping healthy and fit to keep pace with the demands of being executive producer of The Talent Company.

“The angioplasty was a definite wake up call,” she said. “I had to get rid of stress and a lot of weight I had gained. I tried every diet in the world, but they weren’t working,” she said.

She finally found her solution through Weight Watchers, and lost 85 pounds as a result. “Weight Watchers has helped me a great deal. It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle,” she said. “I learned a lot about eating right. I definitely eat better and enjoy more fruits, vegetables, chicken, and salads, but I still manage to have a steak once a week,” she said.

She stays away from oil and sugar as well as desserts.

“I have just a little pasta, which is not easy, because I’m Italian,” she said. “I love making spaghetti and meatballs and baked lasagna. I love to bake.”

Her husband Richard is an avid hiker; she, however, balks at those opportunities.

A retired Syracuse school administrator, Richard is associated with the Adirondack Mountain Club. He leads hiking expeditions, builds and maintains hiking trails, goes mountain climbing and snowshoeing, and for OASIS leads hikes once a month and teaches some hiking and history classes.

“I think about walking or using the treadmill, but most of my time is spent on the phone and computer,” she said.

In the summer, she takes time to swim in the family pool.

“Doing shows and theater keep me active,” she said.

In the beginning—Lightcap’s maiden name is Ragonese, and she grew up in Eastwood next to the Palace Theater.

It’s no surprise she fell in love with the theater: She would catch a double feature on Saturdays, a new double feature on Sundays, and during the summer, new double features were presented on Wednesdays as well. And since her uncle owned the theater, that was six free movies a week.

Lightcap was a self-starter when it came to theater. She made herself director of the neighborhood back yard plays and wrote a musical to replace the yearly variety show at Blessed Sacrament Church in Syracuse. When she got the lead in her high school show, she was really bitten by the “theater bug.”

“My parents definitely did not encourage me to be an actress,” she said.

She attended Syracuse University, and paid half her tuition by working 30 hours a week in the engineering department. “My parents wanted my two sisters and me to ‘learn the value of a dollar.’ Unfortunately, I’m not sure I retained that lesson,” she said.

She wanted to major in theater, but her parents did not think that was a good idea.

In college, she had a dual major in English and speech education and managed to sneak in a minor in drama. She was a member of the Boar’s Head Drama Honorary, the Syracuse University Symphonic Orchestra, and the Pi Beta Phi sorority.

She began teaching at the tender age of 19 at Grant Junior High School in Syracuse. “I’ll never forget my first day of teaching. I made a dramatic entrance through a group of students, flung open the door, and walked into a broom closet,” she said. “Later, in the cafeteria, I asked for coffee with my lunch, and in front of my homeroom class, I was told, ‘You have to be on the faclty to get coffee.’”

It was there she met her husband Rich. They married the following June and went to California for their honeymoon. Actually, that honeymoon turned out to last six years. While there, she did her first national tour playing Smitty in “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, and she received her Equity and SAG cards, which is membership in an organization of professional actors.

She also had her son, Kerry, and daughter Kelly.

Family life—Kerry attended Fayetteville-Manlius High School and Cornell University and played running back for both schools’ football teams. Now an attorney, he and wife Victoria, also an attorney, reside in Manlius. In his spare time, Kerry coaches football for F-M High School, and his #32 football jersey is now being worn by his son.

Her daughter Kelly, a Rutgers alumna, is a pre-school teacher. She and her husband Kevin Daley, and their four children, reside in Skaneateles. In their “spare time,” they coach or attend their children’s concerts, plays, chess tournaments, wrestling meets, and football, soccer, baseball, hockey, and lacrosse games.
Lightcap has six grandchildren, Kirstyn and Langston Lightcap and Kieran, Jordan, Christian, and Jocelyn Daley.

She is vice president of the Manlius Senior Centre Board of Directors and enjoys traveling, reading, family get-togethers, and of course, theater. “I can’t wait to open the pool, get ready for our big Memorial Day barbecue, and go canoeing and paddle-boating in Snook’s Pond,” she said. “I love having the kids here and the pool and the pond in our back yard. Maybe we’ll put on a play.”