{"id":231252,"date":"2026-05-14T12:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/231252\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:15:10","slug":"this-broadway-actress-left-nyc-to-come-home-and-grow-syracuses-art-scene-this-is-cny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/231252\/","title":{"rendered":"This Broadway actress left NYC to come home and grow Syracuse\u2019s art scene \u2013 This is CNY"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Puppeteers in Frozen Andrea “Dott” Dotto is starring in “Frozen,” which opens at Syracuse Stage for a six-week run this week. Dotto and her husband, Brendan Malafronte, are running a puppet production company in CNY after many years in New York City. (Emily Kulkus\/Emily Kulkus) <\/p>\n

Actress Andrea Dotto knows if she had to choose between the roles of Anna or Olaf, it\u2019s a no-brainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m gonna be Olaf,\u201d she said, smiling big. \u201cI knew when I watched the movie for the first time I was like that\u2019s my track. That\u2019s my guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dotto, who goes by \u201cDott\u201d personally and professionally, is the understudy for Olaf in \u201cFrozen,\u201d which opens for a six-week run at Syracuse Stage<\/a> this week. She\u2019s also in the ensemble of \u201cFrozen,\u201d a role that requires 15 wig and costume changes. <\/p>\n

Her husband and business partner, Brendan Malafronte, is set to play the lovable, unintentionally hilarious snowman created by main characters Elsa and Anna, for the bulk of the Stage run.<\/p>\n

Their roles are a culmination of creative efforts for the couple since moving back to Central New York in 2024. They bounced back and forth between New York City and Central New York, where Dotto grew up, because of the pandemic. <\/p>\n

After successfully creating a series of literacy-focused videos<\/a> for The Reading League (which aired on WCNY), the couple moved out of New York City and put down roots in Homer. <\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t sat still since. <\/p>\n

\"\"Olaf Puppeteers at Syracuse Stage Andrea Dotto and her husband Brendan Malafronte are starring in “Frozen” at Syracuse Stage, which runs May 13 to June 21. They run a puppet and production company called Dusty & Dott. (Provided\/Provided photo) <\/p>\n

They are the creative forces behind Dusty & Dott<\/a>, which features Dott and her loyal and adventure-loving dog puppet named Dusty, which comes to life thanks to Malafronte. <\/p>\n

Their website describes their company as \u201cA girl n\u2019 dog imagination factory bringing stories to life for young audiences.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dotto, an actress who has performed on Broadway<\/a>, is assistant producer at Cortland Repertory Theatre<\/a> and teaches at SUNY Cortland. <\/p>\n

Their company was awarded a 2026 Family Grant from the Jim Henson Foundation<\/a>, which they\u2019ll use to launch a new show, \u201cThe Hurt Monster<\/a>,\u201d which they plan to bring to the Redhouse Arts Center. <\/p>\n

\"\"Dusty and Dott Actress Andrea Dotto with her puppet dog Dusty. The two starred in 60 literacy-focused shows for WCNY and continue to offer additional programming through the puppet production company “Dusty & Dott,” which Dotto operates with her husband. (Provided\/Provided photo) <\/p>\n

They have partnered with the Schweinfurth Art Center<\/a> in Auburn on educational programming and they teach private dance, voice and puppetry lessons. Malafronte is also directing a youth production of \u201cThe Spongebob Musical\u201d at Redhouse<\/a> this summer.<\/p>\n

When they heard last year that Syracuse Stage was going to present \u201cFrozen\u201d in 2026 they reached out to see if they could help create the Olaf puppet, which is Malafronte\u2019s specialty. Stage said they were set with the puppet but encouraged them to audition instead. <\/p>\n

Having grown up in Central New York \u2014 Dotto graduated from Fayetteville-Manlius High School \u2014 performing at Syracuse Stage for the first time feels like a big deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pumped,\u201d she said, noting she has a lot of friends and family planning to come to the show.<\/p>\n

\"\"Andrea Dotto in ‘Frozen’ at Syracuse Stage Actress and CNY native Andrea Dotto (second from right) is in the ensemble for “Frozen” at Syracuse Stage, which opens this week. (MICHAEL G DAVIS\/Mike Davis \/ Syracuse Stage) <\/p>\n

Dotto and Malafronte have no plans to slow down. Since moving back, their goals for arts, culture and education in Central New York are as big as a certain snowman\u2019s personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I saw there was saturated passion to make a smaller community even grander, or to the best of its potential, that\u2019s what we need,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen people are clapping for a Broadway audience it\u2019s thrilling, but that\u2019s expected. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think to bring excellence to Syracuse feels really satisfying in a way that feels like a cultural shift. When we\u2019re making kids more empathetic, better listeners, better communicators, that\u2019s a bigger lane than just that and it feels really possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Puppeteers in Frozen Andrea “Dott” Dotto is starring in “Frozen,” which opens at Syracuse Stage for a six-week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[90731,1149,4982,90730,207,90728,90729,9,56,63,65,64,90727,905,8177,8168],"class_list":["post-231252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-andrea-dotto","tag-art","tag-arts","tag-brendan-malafronte","tag-broadway","tag-dusty-and-dott","tag-fayetteville-manlius-high-school","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-syracuse-stage","tag-theater","tag-theatre","tag-topstory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}