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.  Soon after, the group re-formed as SWINGIN' BY A STAR, and the new group's first performance was to a crowd of over 1,000 World War II veterans, family members and visitors at the 2004 Udvar-Hazy Museum World War II Memorial Celebration.  Soon the group was performing for a variety of organizations and events, including service clubs, Oatlands Plantation, festivals and Leesburg, Virginia's "First Friday", to name a few.  In 2007, the group performed for the White House Christmas Tour.


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

Swingin' by a Star at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Museum Memorial Day Celebration, May 30, 2004; L to R: Meredith Bean McMath, Becky Kittka (original group member), Carma Oliverez on piano, Diane El-Shafey and Laurie Meyer.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

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, and served as Musical Director for the Growing Stage's Fame, West Side Story and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  She formerly worked with the students of Waterford Elementary School, directing several original musical plays (for which she wrote 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 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 served as Aurora Studio Theatre Musical Director for all productions during its 4 1/2 years.

MEREDITH BEAN McMATH

Creator of the Swingin' Smithley Sisters, as Director of Run, Rabbit, Run Productions, Inc., 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. She is a veteran stage and radio theatre performer, the former Artist Director of Aurora Studio Theatre, Inc. and is currently pursuing an MS in Arts Management at Shenandoah University.

CARMA OLIVEREZ - Accompanist, Singer

A music teacher at Round Hill Elementary School in Loudoun County, Virginia, Carma also plays piano and leads the worship team at Christ Community Lutheran Church in Leesburg. She is a 1993 graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia and 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. (2004-2008), she helped produce all Aurora musicals, from The Pajama Game to the Aurora's final production, the fall 2008 presentation of Guys and Dolls at Franklin Park Performing Arts Center.

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, "The Queen" in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and "Adelaide" in Guys and Dolls.