Molly Murphy 

Owner

Classes with Molly

Casey Rolfe Administrator

Casey Rolfe grew up in Hampton Roads, Virginia and began her music journey at age six. Armed with a songbook from Disney’s Aladdin and an electric keyboard, Casey taught herself how to read music and play piano. Her musical passions also include drums and percussion, sight-reading, and singing. Casey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Christopher Newport University

Classes with Casey

Jess Bergh
Operations Manager and Multimedia Designer

Jess is working as our website and graphic designer, maintaining our social media pages, and taking over our invoicing, emailing, mailing list and newsletter duties.

A Shenandoah Valley native, she has been refining her skills as a drummer and graphic designer since 2002. She is a founding member of The Judy Chops in which she is fondly called “Bang” and is captain of the rhythm police. In addition, Jess is a “cool mom”, a home-school teacher, and a great partner and friend.

Una Ulla

Una Ulla is a certified Vocal Health First Aider. You can reach out to get a consultation if you are experiencing voice difficulties and would like to get advice on how to care for your voice.

Una was born in a little village in Latvia and has been surrounded by music since early childhood. Una majored in violin and vocals in Latvia and participated in every musical performance and contest that she could as a youngster. Her background is classical, but Una has expanded her knowledge and experience in jazz and Latvian folk music.

Classes with Una

Drew Bastian

Drew began studying drums and percussion at an early age with his grandfather who was a clinician for the Zildjian cymbal company and a professor of music at Mansfield University. Continuing that tradition, Drew studied percussion at Penn State where he participated in ensembles ranging from philharmonic orchestras to the Marching Blue Band. Eventually landing in the theatre world, he went on to play in multiple national and international tours including HAIR and A Charlie Brown Christmas as well as numerous regional productions. 

Classes with Drew

Jane Rothfield

Janie is a power-house American fiddler and claw-hammer banjo player who is widely recognized for her traditional and inventive style, in the pocket rhythm, whimsical groove and her award-winning original tunes. She is a fulltime touring musician playing concerts, workshops, festivals and dances around the world.  She is also an experienced back up guitarist in the old-time style playing with strong rhythm and bass runs to accompany a fiddler, banjo player or singer.  

Classes with Jane

Joseph Zullo

Joseph Zullo is a blossoming musician from the heart of the valley and has been pursuing the adventure of musicianship since his teenage years. His interest was first fostered in chorus from elementary through high school, but truly began with a fascination with rock n roll and a mesmerizing moment with his brother.
"I remember watching and listening intently as my brother played Stairway to Heaven on an old classical guitar and just simply fell in love with strings."

Classes with Joseph

Clayton Ware

Clayton Ware is from Mathews, Virginia. He's a graduate from Berklee College of Music - Online, with a focus in blues guitar. He took interest in playing music in middle school when he was gifted a ukulele for his birthday in 8th grade. His stepdad taught him a few chords. Those chords lit a fire in Clayton.

William Howard

​Bill Howard is a Shenandoah Valley native, and founding member, co-songwriter, & ‘band dad’ of The Judy Chops. Born into a musical family, Bill began singing in elementary school, and developed a love of performance at an early age. Bill’s grandmother gave him his first guitar lesson at age 12 showing him 3 chords, and then told him, ‘That’s the only thing anyone ever showed me; you’ll have to figure out the rest on your own.’ This advice proved to be invaluable, and helped him develop his ear.

Classes with Bill

Ben Leonard

Ben was born and raised here in Staunton and bought his first electric bass and amplifier when he was 15 years old.  His adoration of Rush records and learning them note-for-note provided a contrast to his theater work, playing for several years in orchestra pits for the First Year Players at the University of Virginia as well as productions by the Heritage Repertory Theatre in Charlottesville.  His musical wanderings eventually led him to Boston, where he received his B.A. in Film Scoring from the Berklee College of Music.  In addition to his electric bass studies he immersed himself in music technology, jazz composition, and arranging.  He has played with Latin jazz and funk ensembles, jazz combos, and too many rock bands to count.  He has also contributed production work to releases by Philadelphia hip hop artists Zilla Rocca and Curly Castro.

Classes with Ben

Sarah Williams

Born and raised in Staunton, VA Sarah Williams has been singing with a gospel background since the age of 2 and playing piano by ear since she was 5. However, she did not discover her passion for music until age 13, after stumbling through the infamous musical dive bar, Marinos. Her musical inspirations evolved quickly from Disney musicals to Tom Waits, Sam Cooke, and Patsy Cline.  In the spring of 2010, Sarah Williams wrote her first song, “Dreamin,” and performed it at a local open mic. Since then, she has written over 100 songs and has played across the Nation.

​Lisa Stephens is a singer and multi-instrumentalist. She started playing piano at six years old and has enjoyed growing her musicianship with different instruments and skills along the way! While she became involved in theatre later in life, she has found it to be a great source of community and arts education.

Lisa Stephens

Trent Stephens

Trent Stephens was a real goofball in school and realized he could transfer that skill to the stage! He received his undergraduate degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University. In 2008, Trent started as a company member of the Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival and since 2015, Trent has annually served as guest director for Shakespeare By The Sea in Jupiter, Florida.

Stuart Gunter

Stuart Gunter lives in Schuyler, Virginia. He has been working in music and education for 25+ years, and was even a professional firefighter for over a decade. His poems are forthcoming or have been published in Poet Lore, Hiram Poetry Review, Appalachian Journal, James Dickey Review, Cold Mountain Review, and Plume, among others. Once Again to See the Stars: A Contemporary View of Dante's Inferno, his collaboration with artist Michelle Gagliano, will be published in 2021.