Actress Par Excellence.
Heather McGaha is a legacy performer with a deep and noteworthy string of theatrical credits to her name before she even joined Master Mystery Productions for her debut show in April 2017 as Chantal for the closing night of Bury Me in Paris. Stepping into a lead role with only three weeks to learn everything earned her the Skeleton Key Award for Service Above and Beyond for this amazing dedication, and it became a legendary moment in MMP history. She then appeared as the murdered model Willow in photographs, a fictional ad campaign, and clues in October 2017’s Femme Fatales for the Red Hat Ladies of Bakersfield.
She continued her legendary career in Spring 2018 with a stirring, emotionally riveting performance as opera star Donatella Violetta in our murder mystery opera, Exit Prima Donna, where her gorgeous singing voice reverberating through the theater sent shivers down the spine of the audience at Amargosa Opera House. She won her first Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance for this iconic role. She returned in Fall 2018 for a fun and spirited performance as Moll Flint in our family-friendly pirate’s treasure hunt mystery, Mutiny on the Sea Witch.
In Spring 2019, she gave a hilarious, commanding performance as Brigitte the Bawd in our spring show at Amargosa Opera House, Eat Cake, a French Revolution farce. She gave a performance that, at the time, her director declared to be his absolute favorite, and audiences awarded her her second Diamond Mask Award for the role, making her the first performer to repeat a venue for a Diamond Mask Award. She was even the brave model with cake smeared on her face for the show’s iconic logo. She closed 2019 as the Assistant Director and performed as the icy owner of Billy’s Bigfoot Fresh Jerky Madeline Conrad in Monica Dwyer’s original campfire mystery, Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind.
She returned to the stage in 2022 for a landmark season in her career. She opened her season in our 80’s mystery Closer to Heaven in the role of embattled Madonna look-a-like Erin Rochester whose struggle with an abusive employer and a cancer diagnosis rocked their neon, nightclub world. Heather gave a heartbreaking performance of all time that has been declared her best ever and a true masterpiece of acting. She won critical acclaim and a much-deserved third Diamond Mask Award for Excellence in Performance for the role. But there was more. For her hard work and dedication in the production as an actress, a set dresser, a set designer, a model, and more, Heather was awarded the Skeleton Key Award for Closer to Heaven, becoming the first person in MMP history to win the award twice for live productions and only the second person to win the award twice. She became the fourth person to win both a Skeleton Key and a Diamond Mask at the same production.
She continued her season of excellence in Unlucky Seven as Witness the Sixth, a stay-at-home “mother” with a strangely silent “baby” she brough to a casino, at the 5th anniversary Eastern Sierra Book Festival in Mammoth Lakes, CA. She, along with Monica Dwyer, masterminded a last-second baby made out of a bread loaf when the original doll prop got left behind.
She reprised her role of Madeline Conrad in our 2022 revival of Close Encounters of the Hairy Kind with fresh iciness and a perfectly chilly demeanor, a new strength that brightened and freshened the role to perfection. She was a standout in the reimagined Reader’s Theatre production and won her fourth Diamond Mask Award for the role. She now shares the distinction with her castmate Daniel Stallings as the only performers to repeat venues for Diamond Mask wins—her first two at Amargosa Opera House and her second two at Moe’s Music—and the first performers to win Diamond Masks for the revival portrayal of their original roles.
She closed the season as a Set Designer, one of the Bohemian Artists, and Act Two’s Viv Coniston in Tête-à-Tête, our 1920’s Paris mystery, in Lone Pine, CA. Her flexibility and willingness to work and find solutions to problems, commitment to every show in the 2022 season, the exemplary work she did both onstage and backstage, and the landmark performances she produced earned her the coveted Founder’s Award for 2022, presented at closing night of Tête-à-Tête. We couldn’t thank Heather enough for her brilliant contributions during that landmark year. With seven awards to her credit, the impressive commitment of her 2022 season, and the masterpieces of performance she has given the company over the years, we inducted Heather McGaha into the Master Mystery Productions Hall of Fame as one of our premier actresses.
Heather McGaha’s artistry continues to lift her up as one of the finest performers at Master Mystery Productions with a growing collection of star roles in everything from musicals to plays to Reader’s Theatre. She has been a brave, exemplary actress who has been willing to embrace the silly or the serious ideas for a show, performing them with grace, confidence, and precision. Her intelligent, deeply nuanced portrayals have become legend at MMP, and she continues to grow and excel as an actress, creating more exquisite moments and memories for our audiences and actors to remember for years to come. She is a Hall of Fame Artist.
Master Mystery Productions Hall of Fame 