Artist of the Month - May 2023

Chelsea Dove is being honored as Arts Council Menifee’s Artist of the Month for May because of her knowledge and

enthusiastic cooperation in the planning and facilitation of this year’s Menifee’s Got Talent at Liberty High School on

May 5 th . 

 

Chelsea is Liberty High School’s Theater Program Director. She also teaches English Language Arts classes.  Her classes

include Theater 1 and 2, AP (Advanced Placement) English Language and Composition. She’s hoping to add additional

theater arts courses in Stagecraft and Production in the future. She started her teaching career at Heritage High School

teaching English Language Arts classes, and moved to Liberty in 2021. This is her fifth year of teaching. 

 

She moved to California from Baltimore, Maryland in 2017, and currently lives in Lake Elsinore with her husband, one-

year old daughter, and two dogs. She says that family is very important to her and  that she speaks with her mom almost

daily.  

 

As a teacher, Chelsea loves working with her students. She especially enjoys seeing them grow as actors, designers and

crew members, and take on new challenges. She does a lot of brainstorming with her students, trying things out as they

develop the production collaboratively. She says she is constantly amazed and inspired by her students.  Her vision for

Liberty’s Bison Theater Troupe is to work together as a community of artists both on stage and behind the scenes to

create theatrical productions that people enjoy. She wants to promote opportunities for future growth and success in

theatrical arts while creating a community of student peers who support each other.   

 

Liberty High School’s spring production this year was The SpongeBob Musical, presented on April 27 th through 29 th . This is

the first musical Chelsea has worked on, since most of her experience has been with plays. She enjoys working with

comedies, and especially with the comedic elements of SpongeBob. She says that for next year’s fall play, she’d like to

continue working with comedy and possibly consider a farce, which is a lighthearted comedy which highlights ludicrous

and improbable situations. 

 

It might be surprising that Chelsea is not an actor, but prefers to work behind the scenes. She started her career in

theater in the light booth, working her way up to Stage Manager and Director. She says doesn’t like to perform in front

of an audience, and this helps her work with shy students. She believes it’s valuable for more shy students to learn that

theater isn’t only what is seen on stage, but there is much behind-the-scenes work as well which they can contribute to. 

 

Chelsea is looking forward to collaborating with the Arts Council Menifee on opportunities for her students, and plans to

become a member. She brings her enthusiasm as well as her skills in communication, critical problem solving and

teamwork to the Arts Council. Her previous experience in theater will be a great asset, as she served as a Stage Manager

for over a dozen theatrical productions in community theaters in the Baltimore area, was on the board of a local theater

there, and directed a play in 2016 that won an award for Best Production.    

 

Chelsea graduated from the University of California Riverside with a M.A. in Education and a teaching credential. She did

her undergraduate work at Stevenson University, Maryland, graduating with a B.A. in English Language and Literature. 

 

Arts Council Menifee is pleased to honor Chelsea Dove as Artist of the Month for May 2023 and looks forward to

working with her on future events and projects.