How did Apostrophe Café get its name?

Apostrophe Café. Such a cute name, but why?

The simple answer is we needed to do something with the Apostrophe!

Proctors, as you know it today, began as Proctor’s Theatre, in 1926, the jewel in a chain of 53 vaudeville houses managed by entertainment pioneer F. F. Proctor.
The original name stuck, lasting through not only Proctor’s ownership, but also long stints with Radio Keith Orpheum and Fabian, as well as Arts Center and Theatre of Schenectady, which, since 1979, has been the title holding organization.

In the mid-2000s, Proctors CEO Philip Morris, who arrived in Schenectady in 2002, looked back on recent changes and realized that Proctors had become something different than its founder had envisioned. In addition to family friendly entertainment on the MainStage—a tenet of F. F. Proctor’s philosophy—the hugely expanded campus now hosted, through It Came from Schenectady, strange films on the GIANT screen of the GE Theatre; wild humor from Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show and Mopco in the Underground; great folk music with The Eighth Step; cultural explorations of narrative traditions with Story Circle and so much more.

Proctors had become a community living room, and with that, an apostrophe in the name seemed, well, possessive. A decision was made to change the name from Proctor’s Theatre to Proctors, representing an all-embracing shift to an arts organization with the capacity to support Capital Repertory Theatre, Universal Preservation Hall, the School of Performing Arts at Proctors and whatever else comes along.

Sooooo … what to do with the Apostrophe?

When the Muddy Cup Café chain closed in 2011, Proctors moved forward with its own food service, occupying the vacant space  and developing a fresh, healthy menu of soups, sandwiches and entrees along with a variety of hot and cold beverages. The immediately popular operation, which also caters many in house events, needed a name.

And what better way to use that well-loved, historic apostrophe!