You can call her Dr. Mazzie.

Broadway actress and three-time Tony Award nominee Marin Mazzie, star of Kiss Me, Kate at the Martin Beck Theatre, was given an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from her alma mater, Western Michigan University.

The degree was presented to Mazzie at the curtain call of the May 20 evening performance, with WMU trustees, educators and President Elson S. Floyd in attendance. Her co-star, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and cast members looked on.

On April 20, the WMU Board of Trustees voted to award Mazzie with the degree. She graduated with a degree in theatre in 1982.

Dr. D. Terry Williams, chairperson of the WMU department of theatre, and Todd Neal, director of the musical theatre performance program, also attended the presentation of the degree. Mazzie began her professional acting career in her junior year as an apprentice at the Barn Theatre in Augusta, MI, not far from WMU's Kalamazoo location. She continued acting at the Barn after graduation and moved to New York where she landed roles in Big River, Into the Woods, Passion (Tony nomination) and Ragtime (Tony nomination). She has also appeared in concerts, regional theatre and stock, and on tour.

Even after her Broadway success in Passion, she would return to the Barn to play summer shows.

Mazzie is currently nominated for a Best Actress (Musical) Tony Award for playing Lilli in Kiss Me, Kate.

-- By Kenneth Jones