SWINGIN' BY A STAR began life as The Swingin' Smithley Sisters, when their Big Band Era songs and lively banter created the core entertainment for the live 1940s-style "2002 Tally Ho Radio Show" at the Tally Ho Theatre in Leesburg, Virginia. In the spring of '03, the troupe was invited to perform at the 2003 Memorial Day Hangar Dance at The Leesburg Airport, Leesburg, Virginia.  Reformed and renamed SWINGIN' BY A STAR that year, the four veteran performers* and accomplished accompanist specialize in harmonious renditions of the memorable songs of the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Performing for guests of the State Department at the White House December 9, 2007 during the Christmas Tree Tour. 


A highlight of the day: meeting the Presidential Scotties, Barney and Miss Beazley.  L to R: Roselle Meyer, Meredith Bean McMath, Laura Stroup, Diane El-Shafey, Christy Stroup, Laurie Meyer, and Carma Oliverez. 


At the Willard Hotel with our White House poster afterward.

On May 30th, 2004, Swingin' by a Star performed at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Museum Memorial Day Celebration to an appreciative crowd of over 1,000 World War II veterans, family members and visitors (L to R: Meredith Bean McMath, Becky Kittka*, Carma Oliverez - on piano, Diane El-Shafey and Laurie Meyer).

DIANE EL-SHAFEY, Artistic Director

Diane honed her musical theatre, acting, writing, directing and producing skills in California before arriving in Virginia nine years ago. She has since directed the Growing Stage Theatre Company's main stage production of The Fantastiks as well as youth theatre productions of Bye, Bye Birdie, Anything Goes, The Wizard of Oz, and A Fiddler on the Roof. She's also served as Musical Director for the Growing Stage's Fame, West Side Story and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and has worked with the students of Waterford Elementary School directing several original musical plays (for which she has written both music and libretto). Local acting credits include Marmee in Aurora Studio Theatre's Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN, and, in Growing Stage productions, Mrs. Paroo in The Music Man and Mrs. VanDaan in The Diary of Anne Frank. She's also appeared in the live 1940s-style Tally Ho Radio Show's Arsenic and Old Lace as Martha Brewster. A well-known Loudoun actress and voice and piano teacher, Diane directed Aurora Studio Theatre's spring 2005 musical The Pajama Game and has served as Musical Director for for Aurora's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and Treasures: The Musical Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  She is a past present of Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc.

MEREDITH BEAN McMATH

Creator of the Swingin' Smithley Sisters, Meredith is a producer, director and playwright whose living history programs have appeared at museums including The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, The Newseum, and the National Trust's Oatlands Plantation. A veteran stage and radio theatre performer, she has presented her Civil War music program, "By Lamplight and Campfire," at numerous venues, including a Lincoln's Birthday celebration at Ford's Theatre.

CARMA OLIVEREZ

Carma , an elementary school music teacher at Waterford, Hillsboro and Round Hill Elementary Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, serves as Assistant Musical Direcor for Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc. (Hillsboro, VA) and plays piano and leads the worship team at Christ Community Lutheran Church in Leesburg. A 1993 graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia, Carma played keyboard, flute, clarinet and saxophone for three summers with the Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre Orchestra.Shows included Candide, The Murder of Edwin Drood and Annie. As Assistant Musical Director for Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc., she has helped to produce all the Aurora musicals, from The Pajama Game to the spring 2007 Treasures: The Musical Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

LAURIE MEYER

Laurie is a former member of the Texas A & M Reveliers Jazz Ensemble and former accompanist to the Texas A&M women's chorus.  She is a frequent Wedding Singer.

LAURI STROUP
The newest addition to Swingin' by a Star, Lauri has been performing in music and theater groups on and off since high school. She was a Musical Theatre major, and her most recent roles have been with Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc. as Tom Sawyer's "Aunt Polly" in Treasures: The Musical Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Queen in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella.

*Becky Kittka was an original member of Swingin' by a Star.  Lauri Stroup has since joined in her place.