16 / matters magazine / fall 2026 B ethany Pettigrew’s career has tak en her from the Broadway stage to the director’s chair, with a long and productive detour through Columbia High School. Now, after years of building a family, a local business and one of the region’s most ambitious school theater programs, she is back on Broadway as associate director of Schmigadoon!, the Tony Award-winning musical. Her return is less a reinvention than the con tinuation of rela tionships and skills developed over de cades. Pettigrew, a modern dance major in college, performed in Cats, where she played Sillabub and met fellow cast member and future husband Duncan Pettigrew. She has collaborated for nearly 25 years with Tony Award-winning cho reographer Christopher Gattelli, whom she also met in Cats. Their work has included workshops, readings, regional productions and Broadway shows such as Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Godspell, and Death Becomes Her. As Gattelli’s career developed, Pettigrew moved increasingly into choreography and directing. She describes directing as being so much more than teaching actors how to say their lines or where to go in a space. “It’s about assembling a team of cre atives and helping them reach their visions,” she says. “It’s a lot of collaboration and connecting the dots.” Pettigrew compares the process to a home renovation: “all the tiny details and small decisions that come together to make magic.” Raising three children made the demanding schedule of professional theater harder to man age, however, and she began seeking creative op portunities closer to home. Her work at Columbia allowed her to remain connected to the industry while developing the leadership skills that would eventually help bring her back to Broadway. That trajectory is particularly meaningful to Pettigrew as a woman and a mother. “I’m often the only woman in the room and also the only one with children,” she says. “I feel proud to represent and model that women can be in leadership roles.” Pettigrew is best known locally for her work on 26 Columbia High School musicals (and count ing), a program that has become a source of com munity pride. Her involvement began shortly after she moved to Maplewood in 2000. Her longtime friend and fellow Cats cast member Tricia Benn told her the school was look ing for a chore ographer. Pet tigrew agreed, provided Benn would do it with her. Their first show was Joseph and the Amaz ing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2001. Working at From Broadway to CHS and Back Again Bethany Pettigrew’s return is the latest chapter in a career that continues to evolve BY ADRIANNA DONAT Pettigrew played Sillabub in Cats on Broadway. Pettigrew is associate director of Schmigadoon! on Broadway. Photo by Julia Maloof Verderosa. "Team Gattelli" on the set of Schmiga doon!, the Tony Award-winning musical: Bethany Pettigrew (Associate Director), Christopher Gattelli (Director/Choreogra pher) and Lou Castro (Associate Chore ographer).
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