Acrocats Come to Philly
If you have the opportunity, try to catch a show put on by the Chicago-based performing cat troupe known as The Acrocats, you will not regret it. Though cats are notoriously difficult to train, ringleader Samantha Martin makes teaching your own cats accessible with her clicker training method, rooted in finding cats that have certain proclivities. She is also an avid rescuer, and advocate for fostering and adoption programs - and rescued most of the cats in the show, bottle feeding quite a few of them. Martin also does animal training for tv shows and ad campaigns for PetSmart, Purina, Target, Animal Planet, amongst others. The biggest crowd pleaser was, without a doubt, The Rock Cats rock band, with three cats on guitar, drums, and keyboard as well as a chicken on tambourine.
The cats and their owner/handlers live and tour on their bus and some of the proceeds from each show's ticket sales go to a local rescue or shelter and the Philly show had adoptable cats and kittens available in the lobby. Everyone wins!