An Appalachian town was opening their “9 to 5” musical. Then Dolly Parton died.

Playing a role on stage once played by Dolly Parton was a bucket list item for Kaitlyn Taylor of Olive Hill, Kentucky.

The native of the eastern Kentucky town of roughly 1,500, has been involved in various creative projects over the years, but her first big step into the world of theater came this year when the Olive Hill Center for Arts & Heritage headlined “9 to 5” the musical.

What she, what no one could’ve expected was that opening night would be just two days after Parton’s death following a brief battle with cancer.

“The fact that I get to honor her legacy at the same time as grieving her loss is really special to me,” Taylor, who plays Doralee Rhodes, played by Parton in the theatrical version of “9 to 5,” tells me, sitting across from me in a booth inside the Olive Hill Dairy Queen.

Following Parton’s death Aug. 25, there’s been no shortage for the outpouring of praise and support for the 80-year-old singer, songwriter and performer of East Tennessee fame.

Parton, the fourth of 12 children, grew up in a log cabin with no running water or electricity. She made for Nashville, Tennessee after graduating from high school in 1964 where she went on to hit it big.

There’s a push to rename the Nashville airport in her honor, churches have held communion services to mourn her and Dollywood, the theme park which bears her name in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, observed a moment of silence the day after her death with throngs of people coming to pay their respects.

Taylor’s done several creative projects over the years, but often felt like she had to hold part of herself back, tone down the way she talks, in order to fit a mold — but not for this role.

“She has really just paved the way for all, especially Appalachian girls, I feel like a lot of Appalachian ladies who would look up to her and are just like, “Well, she can do it, and she didn’t change to do it, and then we can we can do it too,” Taylor said.

Even in the face of Parton’s death, the show must simply go on.

Parton’s literary legacy

A sound check ahead of opening night at the arts center occupies the attention of Jessica Price, program director at the arts center and founder of the Ohio Valley Theater Group.

Price, a native of Kenova, West Virginia, talks to performers on stage as she gives directions pertaining to the conclusion of the show on when certain people need to enter and exit.

The stage at the arts center is in the gymnasium of what was once the old Olive Hill High School. The three-story brick schoolhouse was constructed in 1929 on a hilltop above U.S. 60, the main thoroughfare in town.

Since the turn of the 21st century, the high school has been renovated and adapted into a performance space. Right next door to the old high school is the Olive Hill branch of the Carter County library.

Parton’s early childhood literary program, the Imagination Library, was founded in honor of her father, who was illiterate. Imagination Library gifts books free of charge to children from birth to age five. It operates in all 50 states and internationally.

In Carter County, nearly 1,000 children participate in the Imagination Library.

“Dolly put her money where her mouth was,” Price said. “I mean the amount of children in our area that have been affected by her literacy programs…she changed lives.”

Ten minutes before curtain call, the performers backstage are feeling a mix of excitement and anticipation. Or “good jitters” as Taylor tells me.

Back out front, the lights dim as the sounds of alarm clocks blare and the world wakes up. People tumble out of bed, stumble to the kitchen, pour themselves a cup of ambition – the folks who are on the job from nine to five.

Parton’s protest anthem hits Broadway

Parton’s “9 to 5” was released as a single in November 1980 ahead of the premiere of the movie of the same name.

The movie, and the musical, focuses on three primary characters: Judy Bernly, Violet Newstead and Rhodes. The three work at Consolidated Companies under the watchful eye of Franklin M. Hart Jr., a vice president of the company.

Hart is famously a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot,” who is constantly harassing and demeaning the women at every turn.

Decades after its original release, the song became a protest anthem for labor issues and women’s rights.

The song, and by extension the movie and musical, draw their inspiration from the early 1970s labor group named, you guessed it: 9to5.

The group first focused on the labor struggles of clerical workers, who were majority women at that time, highlighting the inequities and harassment they faced in the workplace. The group still operates in the present day as a nationwide labor union for office workers.

Irrespective of Parton’s politics, her art, across many mediums, has served to bring people together, such as in local theatre productions like this one.

Debbie Baker Harman, vice president of the board of the arts center, who also played Roz in the show, said she believes the arts is an important part of having a vibrant community, bridging people together under a unifying banner. That can be especially rewarding in a small town.

“I’ve had people from other places say, ‘I’ve never seen a town your size have an art center’, and that makes me feel really proud,” she said.

And there’s plenty to be proud of at tonight’s show. In a well-known scene from the production, Taylor, as Rhodes, confronts Hart, played by Therman Gross, once she becomes aware that he’s spreading a rumor at the company that the two of them are having an affair.

During the scene, Rhodes threatens to pull a gun from her purse and change Hart “from a rooster to a hen with one shot!”

For Taylor, the opportunity to play the role of Rhodes was already meaningful even before Parton’s death — it meant playing a role where she didn’t have to mask her natural accent.

“A lot of times I’m having to either completely back off on the accent or do a whole different accent that isn’t my true Appalachian roots,” Taylor said. “But for this show, for the past year, I have just leaned into my accent and I’ve just let it come out in everyday conversations, not just when I’m excited or mad, which is usually when it really flares up, and that’s been my favorite part.”

This story was produced by the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, a collaboration between West Virginia Public Broadcasting, WPLN and WUOT in Tennessee, LPM, WEKU, WKMS and WKU Public Radio in Kentucky, and NPR. Sign up for the weekly Porch Light newsletter here for news from around the region.

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