Olney Theatre Center’s production of Sara Bareilles’ beloved musical Waitress in the Roberts Mainstage will reunite star MALINDA in the lead role of Jenna, and director/choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge, when it begins performances on February 13, 2025. The two last collaborated on Olney Theatre’s 2019 production of Once, which later earned MALINDA a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical. They will be joined by David Socolar as Dr. Pomatter, a veteran of both the Company and Waitress national tours. Says Artistic Director Jason Loewith, “I’ve been eagerly looking forward to mounting the DMV-region professional premiere of Sara Bareilles’ amazing musical. Reuniting director Marcia Milgrom Dodge with the amazing MALINDA – the pair who elevated our production of Once to award-winning levels – gives this production a real opportunity to shine. Waitress is special to all of us:  it’s yet another way we’re centering stories of strong women this season, sharing bonds of sisterhood in ways that inspire and delight.” MALINDA. Photo courtesy of Olney Theatre Center. MALINDA (formerly known as Malinda Kathleen Reese, she now goes by the mononym used in her singing career) won the 2020 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical for her last turn at Olney Theatre as the Girl in Once. Shortly thereafter, the world shut down for the COVID pandemic, and MALINDA, who had been cultivating an enthusiastic audience of over 1 million with her music parody YouTube Channel “Twisted Translations,” decided to commit to her music career in folk-pop, drawing on her songwriting and her upbringing in Irish music. She quickly built a 2.7 million following on TikTok with short covers, singing by candlelight, and then exploded in popularity with her take on “Drunken Sailor” during the height of the #SeaShanty phenomenon, garnering millions of views. Her subsequent folk EPs reached #1 on the iTunes World Music charts. In 2023 she released her debut album, It’s All True, accompanied by a visual album, which played in 25 Cinemark movie theaters across the country, followed by a national headline tour. After continuing to tour and release her EP Look At You Now this year, Waitress marks her first return to the musical theater since Once. In addition to David Socolar as Dr. Pomatter, the featured cast includes Allison Blackwell (Becky), Ashley Nguyen (Dawn), Sam C. Jones (Ogie), Ethan Watermeier (Cal), Greg Twomey (Earl), and Bobby Smith (Joe). The ensemble includes Russell Rinker, Jessica Bennett, Wood Van Meter, Casey Martin Klein, Jay Frisby, Wynter Cook, Nadja Tomaszewski, and Nikki Kim. Lou Chubin and Iella Barr-O’Connor share the role of Lulu. Stellamaris Orellana and Dylan Toms are swings for the production. Marcia Milgrom Dodge returns to Olney Theatre Center following the worldwide acclaim for her groundbreaking version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, originally produced in 2021 and remounted in 2022. Handling both directing and choreography duties this time around, she will again work with Music Director Christopher Youstra. The creative team also includes Scenic Designer Chen-Wei Liao, Lighting Designer Minjoo Kim, Costume Designer Sarah Cubbage, Sound Designer Matthew Rowe, Wig Co-Designers J. Jared Janas and Cassie Williams, Intimacy and Fight Choreographer Sierra Young, and Dialect Coach Lynn Watson. Production Stage Manager Ben Walsh is supported by Assistant Stage Managers Becky Reed and Kate Kilbane. Waitress runs February 13 – March 30, 2025, at Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd, Olney, MD 20832. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday matinees at 1:30 pm, and select Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm. Tickets range from $35-$110 and are available online or by calling the box office at 301-924-3400. Discounts for students, seniors, military, veterans, first responders, and educators are available here. Additionally, Olney offers the following Affinity Nights during the run of Waitress: Under 30 Night Use the code Under30 for $30 tickets every Wednesday evening. Excludes Orchestra A and Mezzanine A. Limit 4. Single By Choice – Wed. Feb. 19 @ 6:30 pm Use code Choice to save 30% off Side Mezzanine seats, Rows A & B Bakers & Bakers at Heart Night (food service industry) – Thurs. Feb 27 @6:30 pm Use code Bakers to save 30% off Side Mezzanine seats, Rows A & B Sweet Tooth Night – Wed. March 5 @ 6:30 pm Use code SweetTooth to save 30% off Side Mezzanine seats, Rows A & B Finally, an audio-described performance will be held Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 pm, and an ASL-interpreted performance on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30 pm. ABOUT OLNEY THEATRE CENTER Founded in 1938 as a summer playhouse, Olney Theatre Center (OTC) now produces world and American premieres of plays and musicals, and reimaginings of familiar titles year-round; presents the work of leading companies and artists; tours nationally and locally; teaches students of all ages; and mentors a more inclusive generation of theatermakers. For more than 8 decades, OTC has brought impactful theater performance and education to its community, helping to grow the vibrancy and vitality of the Washington, DC region. Over the years, some of the biggest names in theater and film have appeared on Olney’s stages, including Tallulah Bankhead, Helen Hayes, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, Bob Fosse, Phillip Bosco, Eve Arden, Eva Gabor, Burl Ives, Jose Ferrer, Carol Channing, Olivia d’Havilland, Tony Randall, Paulette Goddard, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Jane Seymour, Anne Revere, Frances Sternhagen, Arthur Treacher, James Broderick, Olympia Dukakis, Sir Ian McKellen, Marica Gay Harden, John Colicos, Uzo Aduba, Alan Cumming, Cheyenne Jackson, Robin de Jesus, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, and Bernadette Peters, among many, many others. Olney Theatre is now the cultural anchor of a rapidly changing region and serves one of the most diverse, best educated, and wealthiest counties in the country. Situated on the unceded land of the Piscataway-Conoy people, the Olney area was once a rural farming community with a unique Quaker heritage. Now the area is occupied by every kind of family that makes up 21st-century America, along with major corporations, shopping districts, civic associations, non profit organizations and a diverse collection of houses of worship. Montgomery County’s 1 million residents play a dynamic role in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, and are a driving force behind the region’s creative economy.