A Stitch in Time

Sarasota Opera Sews Up Support from “Newbies” Katherine Benoit & John Brooks

By Sylvia Whitman  |  Photo by Nancy Guth

After scouting retirement locations, Michigan-based automotive executives Katherine Benoit and John Brooks settled on Sarasota almost six years ago because of the vibrant arts scene—theater, music, the standbys. Opera wasn’t even on their radar, however—until a friend invited them to a performance and a co-producer event. 

Brooks was leery. “I’m a Rust Belter with muddy boots and a bad haircut. I’m not your typical opera-goer,” John says with his usual wry humor. A bad encounter with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman had soured him on the genre long ago. Benoit preferred theater.

But something clicked that night at the Sarasota Opera House. Drama, music, dance—all came together into an “overwhelming” artistic experience for the couple. They’ve come to love the “intimate venue with great acoustics,” the “outstanding singers,” and Maestro DeRenzi’s conservative approach, keeping the performances true to “the time for which they were written,” says John. “As opposed to seeing it done with motorcycle leather and modern flare.”

“We like the traditional style,” says Benoit.

“I think this is the definition of serendipity,” says John. “Finding something wonderful you didn’t know you were looking for.”

As much as the productions, the warm welcome of the opera community thrilled Benoit and Brooks. “We’re new and uninitiated,” says Brooks, “and there’s a willingness to help us understand and learn.” Not just the singers and staff, he says, but all the people who support the opera.

Within a year, the couple had signed on as co-producers, donors who underwrite substantial portions of a production. With that came invitations to discussions, receptions, and backstage tours. “The organization isn’t pretentious in any way,” says Benoit. “We felt we had joined a family. The opera is so grateful for anything we can do.” 

Benoit accepted a recent invitation to join the board of trustees. “Now we spend a lot of time doing things for the opera because it’s both interesting and educational,” she says.

The Costume Studio Initiative

A discussion group led by the opera’s resident costume designer, Howard Tsvi Kaplan, especially piqued Benoit’s interest. She sews—seriously sews and embroiders, skills taught by her mother, who raised eight kids in western New York. “At Christmas, if I opened a present, it was usually fabric,” says Benoit. “My mother would say, ‘Make yourself a dress.’”

Kaplan, a onetime Ringling circus costume designer, explained how he sourced material for a costume, how it was constructed, the workmanship, the cost. Seamstress Benoit felt an instant connection to opera apparel and accessories. As part of an education mission, she had sewn 100 girls’ dresses and delivered them to an orphanage in Tanzania. Along the way, she bought African fabrics, which she showed Kaplan. She also met a tribe of Maasai women who make jewelry, and she has volunteered as their trade representative, placing their handiwork in U.S. museum stores.

So—no surprise!—Benoit has embraced the opera’s Costume Studio Initiative. For almost a century, Malabar Ltd. in Toronto had been renting out costumes, including to Sarasota Opera. As owner Luigi Speca contemplated retirement, he began negotiating with his longtime friend and colleague Kaplan. “A number of buyers were interested in turning the collection into Halloween costumes,” says Brooks. “But the owner wanted the costumes to go to a good home.” 

Speca offered Sarasota Opera his entire opera collection—30,000 ensembles from 135 distinct productions—for $1.1 million, plus shipping and storage. That’s about $33 each for costumes worth at least $1,000 to $2,500 apiece. 

Deal.

Brooks and Benoit marvel at the sliver they’ve seen. Because of elaborate beadwork, some outfits weigh as much as 35 pounds. Some have been worn by Pavarotti and other opera superstars. Imagine 30 uniforms in a row, all different sizes for different members of the chorus. 

“Getting that up close and personal with these costumes and jewelry was intriguing to both of us,” Benoit says. She’s looking forward to participating in the rejuvenation of sometimes threadbare historic apparel. 

But the Malabar acquisition has also set Brooks’s business pulse racing. As is common, Sarasota Opera gets a return on investment by leasing its sets and costumes from past productions. The addition of the Malabar inventory boosts Sarasota Opera in the global marketplace. 

“Any artistic or philanthropic organization is constantly searching for sustainability,” says Brooks. A fabulously stocked wardrobe will not only boost the artistic quality of future local productions; it will provide a steady secondary income for the opera, perhaps quintupling the current $85,000 inflow from rentals. 

As the semitrucks arrived from Canada this fall, the opera faced a new challenge—finding a closet big enough for not a mere battalion of finery but an entire corps. “The costumes are in every nook and cranny of the current operation,” says Benoit, as well as in boxes in a warehouse near the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. 

Brooks says the board of trustees is evaluating a new facility for scenery and costumes. Paul and Sharon Steinwachs, pillars of Sarasota Opera, pledged $500,000 to that end in a matching challenge that closed December 31. 

Brooks and Benoit have also contributed. “We wouldn’t have been able to do much for the Met in New York or the Lyric in Chicago,” says Benoit. But making a difference in Sarasota “is very easy.” Becoming supporters, she adds, “has given us a way to experience the opera in more ways than just going to a performance.” Backstage talks—about the costumes, the staging, the music—have deepened the couple’s appreciation of the art. 

Brooks says longtime opera aficionados, “folks much more sophisticated and knowledgeable than we are,” often comment on the high quality of Sarasota’s stagings. “They’ve seen Carmen 14 times but have told us this was by far the best production.” He and Benoit, on the other hand, bring a newcomer’s wonder. “Every performance is a first time for us,” he says. 

As Brooks gets fired up about La Bohème in March, Benoit reminds him that they’ve actually seen that one before, here, in 2015. Brooks says the novelty will come in “understanding how they do something different the second time around. It’s a first time for me.” 

The couple recently attended their first Sarasota Youth Opera, the last performance of Brundibár on a weekend. Although the couple has no children, Benoit wished some of her 55 nieces and nephews and offspring had been visiting so she could have shared the serendipity. “If I’d gone on a Friday, I would have gone back on a Saturday,” she says.

“It looked like the audience was having a great time,” says Brooks. “We’ll not only be going back, but we’ll also support it.”

FOR MORE INFORMATIONabout the Sarasota Opera, visit sarasotaopera.org or call 941.328.1300.