Augie Grads Reunite in Girl Power Musical, “9 to 5,” at Moline’s Spotlight Theatre
Katie Griswold and Becca Casad have seen their theatrical careers gleefully intertwine since their days at Rock Island’s Augustana College, which included performing together in the colorful, exuberant “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” on campus in 2019.
They have succeeded in QC theater by really trying, including an Augie reunion at Black Box Theatre with the four-person “[title of show]” in summer 2023 to several shows at Moline’s Spotlight Theatre, including their latest, “9 to 5: The Musical,” opening Friday night, running Feb. 6-15, directed by Casad and starring Griswold in the role immortalized by Dolly Parton in the 1980 film of the same name.
“9 to 5: The Musical” is based on the film of the same name, with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. It features a book by Patricia Resnick, based on the screenplay by Resnick and Colin Higgins. The musical premiered in Los Angeles in September 2008, and opened on Broadway in April 2009.
It received 15 Drama Desk Award nominations, the most received by a production in a single year, as well as four Tony Awards nominations. The Broadway production however was short-lived, closing in September 2009.
Katie Griswold, center, stars as Doralee in the new Spotlight Theatre production of “9 to 5: The Musical.”
In the musical (for which Dolly wrote lots of new songs), the writers “did such a good job of extracting the comedy from the movie,” Casad said this week. “There’s so many callbacks to it that are just, like, snuck in there. And I just loved that. I just really loved that.”
“Every number in this musical is like a showstopper,” the director added. “Like, every single one. There’s not a single number in the song that doesn’t fully commit to what it’s doing.”
Under musical director Christine Rogers, “it’s a stacked cast,” Casad said. “Every single person in the cast is amazing. Hard workers.”
“I feel like she did such a good job at balancing the musical theatricality of the music with the Dolly Parton aspect of the music,” Griswold said of the country legend. “Because you get so back and forth between songs, like ‘Around Here,’ which is very standard musical theater, but it has a lot of that flair. And then you go from that to ‘Backwoods Barbie,’ which is very much a Dolly Parton ballad piece. It’s a ton of variety. I love it.”
The new “9 to 5” at Spotlight (1800 7th Ave., Moline) stars Haley Tromblee, left, Shana Kulhavy and Katie Griswold.
In the story, as clocks ring and the workers wake up, Violet, Doralee, and Judy prepare for work (“9 to 5”), starring another mundane and hellish day at work under Franklin Hart, Jr., president of Consolidated Industries.
In the movie, the trio of women seeking their revenge against an awful, sexist boss (played by Dabney Coleman on screen) were originally played by Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Here, Griswold is the Dolly role of Doralee (with a big blonde wig), and her comrades in arms are Shana Kulhavy and Haley Tromblee, with the villain boss embodied by musical theater veteran Kevin Pieper, reprising the same role from Music Guild’s 2013 production.
“He is so consistent,” Casad said. “He just always shows up, does an amazing job. Seriously.” Pieper made his Spotlight debut pre-COVID, back in February 2019, in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.”
Griswold said it was a dream to work with Kulhavy and Tromblee, who she knew in college.
“None of us had ever gotten really close. And over the show, we’ve had times where we’re just together. We are very in tune with each other now,” she said. “We have more fun bantering on stage because we’re comfortable with each other.”
Spotlight’s “9 to 5” features Kevin Pieper (center), with Mark Kulhavy and Eric Finch.
Tromblee last played Inga in Spotlight’s “Young Frankenstein” last October.
While Casad wasn’t sure which girl would play who initially, it locked in during callbacks.
“The entire casting team was just laughing their heads off,” she recalled. “This is the most hilarious dynamic. It was such natural chemistry that, I mean, the answer was made for us.”
Laura Hammes, a frequent music director, who sings for the QC band Fair Warning, is also in the case.
Casad is thrilled to be directing again at the Spotlight. Her favorite directing credits across the QC include “[title of show]” at Black Box Theatre, “Legally Blonde,” at Spotlight in February 2024 and “Medea” at Augie, from which she graduated in 2022.
You may also have seen her onstage at The Spotlight Theatre in roles such as Karen (“SpongeBob SquarePants”), Sally (“The Lightning Thief”), and Slank (“Peter and the Starcatcher”). Griswold graduated from Augustana in 2020.
Directing versus performing
“When I’m performing, I get to let loose. And directing is more like my day job. It’s more work,” Casad said recently. “But I think I prefer facilitating other people to be able to create and enjoy their time. And so whether I’m on stage as a scene partner or I’m directing, that’s the most important thing to me. So that’s where I find my joy.”
Casad last directed “Legally Blonde” at Spotlight, and got married in April 2025, to her husband Jacob, who’s also in the “9 to 5” cast (one of four married couples). The other pairs are Kevin and Valeree Pieper, Shana and Mark Kulhavy, and Heather and Dallas Foss – fitting since Valentine’s Day will be on the second weekend.
Casad was on stage for the colorful, wacky “SpongeBob” musical at Spotlight in June 2023, music directed by Griswold, who teaches music at Washington and Jane Addams Elementary schools in Moline.
Griswold has music directed several Spotlight shows, and was last on stage there for 2022’s “Tuck Everlasting.” “9 to 5” is her first lead role at any theater since Augie’s “Drowsy Chaperone” in 2018.
A scene from “9 to 5,” directed by Becca Casad, at Spotlight Theatre, which opens Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.
“I’ve been itching to get back,” she said. “And this one finally worked out and I saw the staff. I know the show fairly well, knew it beforehand, and I’m like, it’s time. The stars are aligning. And, yeah, here we are.”
Casad (whose day job is an IT project manager for Group O) loves being part of Spotlight shows for creating “a sense of community and friendship and joy in the production that really appeals to me,” she said. “I have a completely separate, full-time, demanding job, so I can’t do theater all the time.99
“And I feel like When I get to come here, I get to be a part of a hobby that is just like a place where I get to make new friends,” she said. “And people bring so much joy in and excitement in and ideas. And you can find that other places, too. But this place is a special place in my heart because it’s the first place that I found that.”
“I really like that there is just as much emphasis on a productive and fun and cohesive rehearsal process as there is a professional polished, good show,” Griswold said, noting co-owner Brent Tubbs always emphasizes having fun among cast and crew.
“You’re a part of this family. Like from the first rehearsal, like every show that I’ve done here, he said something along those lines,” she noted. “I feel like that really shines through the rehearsal process with the staff, with cast, with even people that are coming in later, like pit and backstage staff. Like, we all have this general sense of we are here because we enjoy doing what we do.
Katie Griswold, a 2020 Augiustana grad, has music directed many Spotlight shows, and stars in the Dolly Parton role in the new “9 to 5” production.
“We are here because we like this community. And we are here because we want to share art and create these beautiful moments on stage and off,” Griswold said. “And that has been what’s brought me back from my first show in 2021 to here five years later.”
Music Guild is doing “SpongeBob” this summer, and she said she’d try out if it weren’t for the fact she’s starting grad school online (music education through Western Illinois University) and planning her wedding, likely in spring 2027. Casad (who played Karen in the Spotlight production9) said she might have to audition.
“9 to 5” will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6-7, plus Feb. 13-14, and 2 p.m. Sundays, Feb. 8 and 15, at Spotlight Theatre, 1800 7th Ave., Moline.
Tickets are $24 each for stadium seats, and $30 for floor seats, available HERE.
A scene from “9 to 5,” directed by Becca Casad, at Spotlight Theatre, which opens Friday, Feb. 6, 2026.
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