Meet the Team: Meredith McDermott

This week, our “Meet the Team” series continues with our musical director and the actor behind Hearth Tannenbaum, Meredith McDermott.

Meredith has been performing, either as an actor or musician, since she was a child. Her primary musical training is as a percussionist, and she has spent many years performing with bands and orchestras and, for a time, in drum corps. She has always had a passion for acting, and as a freshman in college she began pursuing musical theatre alongside her studies as a television production and percussion performance student at the University of South Florida. Some of her stage credits include Ragtime, The Prince and the Pauper, Broadway Gone MAD, Once Upon A Mattress, and White Hot Broadway.

In 2007, while working on the board for a local theatre group, Meredith became reacquainted with Jonathan Van Dyke, whom she had briefly performed with in a local production. It was at that time that she was cast in his ’80s musical, Totally Electric, playing the role of the eccentric show choir singer Grapenut Brown. She has been working on the show ever since and has either appeared in, or musical directed, six different productions of the musical to date. Overall, Holiday Inc. marks their eleventh theatrical collaboration.

On creating the role of Hearth Tannenbaum, Meredith likes to say she’s “a little Mrs. Potts, a little Mrs. Doubtfire, and a little of myself.” She feels extremely privileged to have worked on this production, especially with such a bright future ahead of it, and with so many talented friends and colleagues in the cast and creative team.

Meredith is also an accomplished director and musical director. In addition to Holiday Inc, some of her credits include the aforementioned Totally Electric, as well as Van Dyke’s horror-movie spoof The Class of RIP, The Wiz, Taboo, Miss Polly’s Institute…Puts On A Show!, Dinner With the MacGuffins and Boy Meets Girl.

In addition to her stage work, she also works as a private vocal and acting coach and as a theatre arts teacher in Tampa, FL. She also does work in marketing and public relations and web/graphic design for theatrical groups.

Meredith would like to thank Jonathan for his continued support and friendship; Dorene Collier and the ESP Theatricals team for all their hard work; her family and friends Simo and Marlee; and her students.

Be sure to check back next week for another installment in our blog series. Also, we will be posting content from our latest promotional events and rehearsals. Don’t forget to subscribe, so you don’t miss a thing!