“And the best leading actress in a musical is… Caroline Lovelace for Molly Brown in The Unsinkable Molly Brown!” the speakers echoed throughout the auditorium, followed by a roar of cheers.
Full of emotions and memories, Caroline Lovelace, ‘26, stepped onto the stage to receive her Cappie award in May, 2025, one of the most prestigious regional awards given to high school students in theater.
“In April, I found out I was nominated for best leading actress in a musical, and in May I found out that I won,” Lovelace said. “That is something that if you told seventh grade me, she would never believe you.”
Ever since she was a child, Lovelace has been gleefully entertaining those around her through storytelling — before she could read or write.
“She would just disappear for hours, and then she’d come back and say, ‘Mommy and Daddy, I want to tell you a story,’” Jeff Lovelace, Lovelace’s father, said. “She drew pictures on every page [of a book]. They were just scribbles, but she would recite this story from beginning to end… It was unbelievable.”
Lovelace soon progressed from storytelling out loud to writing her thoughts down on paper. She expressed an early enthusiasm for reading, reading at the fourth-grade level at just five years old — but Lovelace’s interests didn’t stop here. She later got involved in a variety of activities including soccer, karate, Student Council, multiple dance classes and music.
Lovelace’s elementary school music teacher, Mike Messerly, noticed her innate musical talent early on.
“Caroline was always a joyful presence in music class,” Messerly said. “She just seemed comfortable making music, it was not only her happy place, but a place that made sense to her. I think that’s a special thing, to find a key puzzle piece of what makes your soul light up at such an early age.”
Finally, Lovelace first experienced theater in third grade.
“[When] I auditioned for The Jungle Book, I sang a song from church because I didn’t know any other songs for my audition, and they made me Mowgli [lead actor],” Lovelace said. “It was one of the most pivotal moments of my life. I have very vivid memories of being seven years old and on that stage, and it meant everything to me.”
With the help of her parents, Lovelace soon got involved in theater productions around the city, dabbling into the thespian community. However, when Lovelace arrived at WHHS in seventh grade, she faced an unexpected setback — the pandemic. Even in the Zoom meetings, Lovelace’s personality was shining through the screen.
“I remember just being impressed with not only how talented she was, but how bright and chipper [she was too],” Mike Sherman, theater director, said. “She had this face like a cherub, this sort of sunny positive disposition that I think has always been such a hallmark of Caroline.”
Soon, she began to form her own community in theater at WHHS, forming close bonds with Adelaide Linser, ‘26, and other students cast in the plays. Linser has remained a close friend to Lovelace throughout the years they have been in theater together.
“I don’t really know how I would go through theater without Caroline,” Linser said. “There’s just always been that assumption that no matter the show, no matter the production, no matter the competition, Caroline and I are going to talk it out and it’s going to be okay, and we’re going to have so much fun.”
The summer before Lovelace’s sophomore year, her mother, Amy Lovelace and Jeff Lovelace formed the organization Wings, the first theater booster organization at WHHS, with some other parents to support the theater department.
“[We] find ways to support them and make theater a little easier to do,” Amy Lovelace said. “We leave in 2026, so the legacy of what we leave behind is so important… This year is very much about making sure we’re bringing the next generation of parents and theater fans together, so those of us who have been participating in this can hand this over with a process and a playbook that they can follow.”
Around that time, WHHS had been given a special grant by Music Theater International to perform the regional premiere of the revised show, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, in the 2024-2025 school year. Within the ample two-year period of preparation for the show, Lovelace fell in love with Molly Brown’s story, becoming the number one listener in the world to the soundtrack.
“I read the script more times than I can count, at least once a week for that entire, almost two-year period,” Lovelace said. “Getting married, having children, being cheated on, surviving one of the worst man-made disasters of all time [The Titanic], are all things I’ve never experienced, and yet she felt so me, and that was because of her spirit.”
The role of Molly Brown required more dedication and effort than anything she had attempted until that point. Lovelace had to stretch her vocal range to new limits, portray 30 years of character growth and execute six wig changes in one show. However, this effort paid off.
“There were some moments of acting and some moments of music in Molly Brown that literally just brought me to tears with how emotionally connected she was with that character,” Sherman said. “It was just so raw and human, it was really beautiful to watch.”
Now, Lovelace has a new goal: finding the right college for her dreams. Over the past few months, she’s auditioned for over 60 Bachelor of Fine Arts programs offered at colleges across the country while preparing for her next theater production at WHHS, Indecent. Regardless of where the wind may take her, Lovelace’s friends and family members alike are confident that she will flourish.
“All I know is whatever she does, whatever she sets her mind to, she is going to succeed,” Jeff Lovelace said. “I think if she just follows her heart, whether it be on the stage or behind the stage, writing or directing, whatever she does, she’s going to kill it.”