The sheshes

sheshe biographies

Deborah Randall (she/vocals, guitar, and recorder) has always loved music. Working with her husband and Venus Theatre musical director Alan Scott. They have written several plays with new music for Venus Theatre: Til It Hurts, Daughters of Molly Maguire, Heartfriends, Lysistration, and The Powers That Be. The sheshes have played arts festivals as well as on stage at Venus. When Covid hit, the sheshes began to rehearse weekly. Venus Theatre published two books in 2025, and the sheshes showed up to perform at book-signing events at locations such as: The Dimmick Memorial Library in Jim Thorpe, PA, The Main Stay in Rock Hall, MD, Raggamuffin Coffee Shop in Laurel, MD, Good Company Brewing in Savage, MD, and The Strand in Baltimore, MD. Deb is excited to be out and playing again. Venus Theatre production history.

Amy Rhodes (she/vocals, bass, and flute) was born into a house with a piano and a beautiful pianist for a grandmother. She always loved music. At a young age, she was able to take piano lessons and learned to read music. Amy picked up the flute in 5th grade (as many do). In middle school, she joined the orchestra, concert band, marching band, and handbell choir. All but the latter continued through the rest of her school career. She borrowed and taught herself the saxophone in order to join the jazz band in middle school and picked up the bass guitar to join the jazz band once again in her senior year of high school. Amy always enjoyed singing in the chorus and joined her church choirs. For several of her adult years, she gave up her musical dreams. However, over the years and many projects with Venus Theatre, Amy was able to rekindle that love of music, and playing/ singing with the sheshes is a dream come true.

Alan Scott (Venus Theatre Musical Director) is a singer-songwriter/musician from Washington, D.C. He has studied Classical Guitar at George Washington University and Music Theory/Composition at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is currently a professional music instructor. Alan has been a composer for Venus Theatre’s original compositions for over 20 years. Alan Scott has created music for companies like Ourisman Automotive and United Therapeutics. Alan has created music videos of his own work and wrote a song performed by American Idol winner Ruben Studdard. Most recently, Alan’s song, John Lewis Lives, won the Sound of Change song competition. The Alan Scott Band has shared the stage with diverse artists - everyone from Living Colour, Fishbone, WAR,  and Cheap Trick. The Alan Scott Band

The herstory of the sheshes…

The genesis of the sheshes at Venus Theatre Company began in 1999. 

Venus Envy had been producing for half a decade. Venus Envy consisted of solo shows, and multi-cast plays written, produced, and performed by Deb Randall. Venus Envy evolved from the work Deb was doing with the She Company (Sheco) in the 1990s. This work included interactive improv workshops with women at the House of Ruth, as well as leading Take Back the Night Marches. 

Through Venus Envy, Deb loved the freedom of working with her friends and then throwing everything in a vehicle solo-style and popping up through five states, but she missed the collaboration that is an essential part of theatre. Also, the more she produced her own work, the more she wanted to produce the work of other women, too.  In 1999, Venus Theatre Company evolved out of Venus Envy. The inaugural production of Venus Theatre Company was a play by Deb called Daughters of Molly Maguire. Daughters of Molly Maguire was a three-act play with music. 

Alan Scott composed three hours of original music for the play, and promotions began in 1999 with a three-piece all-female band playing songs from the world premiere play as well as some Irish standards in pubs throughout the DMV. Venus Theatre Company went on to become the longest-running regional women's theatre in the US. Venus read hundreds of new scripts publicly and produced 70 full productions. Venus Theatre has created more than 800 stipend-paid artistic roles in its quarter-century existence.

The sheshes emerged with many of the same songs decades later. Once Venus no longer needed to rent separate venues for each production, roots seemed to drop. Sometimes, the sheshes would pick up instruments in the lobby after a play was produced in the 15-year blackbox location on C Street in Laurel, MD. Spontaneously strums with various guest artists post-show turned minutes into hours in the lobby. This included one late evening with London playwright Maureen Chadwick. She'd written quite a bit for the BBC. She flew in when Venus produced her play, The Speed Twins. She picked up the lobby guitar, which had been Deb’s touring guitar, held it upside down, and began to strum. She played left-handed and sang so many songs from the 70s. We sang along with her to Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Carole King, and so many more. 

At other times, the sheshes played inside the new works being staged at Venus. Garbage Kids by Jayme Kilburne is a fine example of this. We had one male performer who played the train whistle, and Amy and Deb played bass and guitar. 

Once Covid hit and Venus Theatre lost its storefront, Amy and Deb began to meet in the home studio of Venus once a week to continue to play and strum. Amy calls it "music" day. Alan continues to direct the sheshes musically and compose for Deb’s new song lyric ideas. Alan's videos can be seen on YouTube under Alan Scott Band (one L). To learn more about Alan check out his website. Deb continues to write songs about the Molly Maguires as well as so many other things, and to alter traditional lyrics so that girls and women come out strong in the story. 

During this same period of time in the studio, Venus Theatre published two books, venUS and Frozen Women/Flowing Thoughts. Venus Theatre Company hopes to do 25 book signings with the sheshes playing along to celebrate 25 years of Venus Theatre Company.

Feedback has been strong for the sheshes at these book signing events. Currently, the sheshes have two sets ready to play. The Ta-Da! set is family-friendly. It’s a light-hearted, fun sing-along experience. The other set is called the Bites Back! set. This is a plugged-in rocking half hour of music for adults who need a reason to scream together. One or both sets are available for booking, and Venus will have both books available for purchase at every sheshe event.