Dolly is thrilled to be making her 15th appearance on the SSMT boards, and especially happy to be in her first production of Fiddler on the Roof. Her last appearance here was as Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd. Other SSMT favorite roles include Mama Rose in Gypsy, Dolly in Hello, Dolly!, Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz (the premiere show in Ohrstom-Bryant Theatre), Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Carmen in Curtains, Miss Hannigan in Annie, and Mama Morton in Chicago. Dolly is the first graduate of Shenandoah’s musical theatre program, under the tutelage of the late, great Hal Herman. She spent time in New York pursuing her passion before returning to the greater D.C. area to raise a family.

Dolly is the founding artistic director for The Growing Stage, Loudoun County’s premiere youth theatre company, which she helmed from 1994 to 2004. She was also the director of theatre programs at Blue Ridge Middle School in Purcellville from 2009 to 2019, and in 2015 was nominated for the inaugural Tony Award for Excellence in Theatre Education. In 2018, Dolly was awarded Shenandoah University’s Distinguished Alumna Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Today, Dolly maintains an active voice/acting studio out of her home on Little North Mountain near Strasburg, Virginia, which she shares with her life-partner, Ezra, an exploding garden, and sixteen spoiled chickens who are her “pets with benefits.”

This one’s for you, Hal. I think you’d approve of this one all the way around.