Teenage matchmaker: Five questions with Ashlin Neal, the star of this weekend’s “Hello, Dolly!” production at Center for Creative Arts

Ashlin Neal auditioned for the title role in “Hello, Dolly!” because the teenager recognized a common trait between herself and 1890s matchmaker Dolly Levi.

“I’m a very calm person and Dolly is very calm. She knows exactly what she is doing as she goes about helping people,” explains the 17-year-old Ashlin.

It’s that ability to remain calm and in command that director Jason Whitehead says helped the senior land the title role in Center for Creative Arts’ production of “Hello, Dolly!”, which opens Thursday for a four-day run at CCA.

“Hello, Dolly!” made its Broadway debut in 1964, winning 10 Tony Awards. Over 50 years, the show has enjoyed three Broadway revivals, and it won three Academy Awards when it was made into a 1969 movie starring Barbra Streisand.

Ashlin says she’s watched the Streisand movie, but it’s the mannerisms, fashion and etiquette of the 1890s that she’s researching and studying.

Whitehead says the full cast of 32 students got a crash course in the art of matchmaking — Dolly calls what she does “meddling” — and its place in the late 19th century. In this age of Internet introductions through eHarmony, making a living by personally pairing up people specifically for marriage was quite a novelty to many of the teens.

“They had to have it explained that this was the custom,” says Whitehead. “It was an eye-opening experience for them to know this was a profession and it was accepted. As the song says, ‘Call on Dolly,’ that’s who she was and what she did.”

So how does Ashlin — a teen who unselfconsciously jokes that her relationship status is “stagnant” right now — relate to her new role? She answered that and other questions about playing musical theater’s most famous matchmaker.

What appealed to you about the role of Dolly Levi and what’s been most challenging?

The name “Dolly” itself — it brings good news because everyone knows that Dolly Levi is sort of a good luck charm. She does good to get things done. That sounded very appealing to me.

Dolly has so many lines, she wants to say so much — and she feels like she has that right. She wants to help people because she finds pleasure in doing it, and that’s challenging trying to connect with everyone and sort of feel that you are responsible for everyone.

Dolly is a turn-of-the-century matchmaker in the 1890s. How comfortable are you playing a woman from 125 years ago?

I’m completely comfortable with it. I think it’s fun working with different mannerisms and stepping into her shoes. If you notice in old films, people’s posture then was so much better, their language was so much more smooth. Everything was so practiced. People don’t do that anymore. People don’t go home and practice standing straight or walking gracefully.

Dolly Levi is a hands-on matchmaker, even resorting to scheming and conniving to get the outcome she wants. Today’s matchmaking is much more impersonal — fill out a match.com form or go on Tinder. How do you relate to that generational difference?

Today, people base things on looks. But Dolly says in one song “a woman who is 6 feet tall can find love with a man who comes up to her ear.” This musical really shows how opposites can attract. People don’t see that now, they just base things on how good someone looks to them.

Dolly sets people up through blind dates. Have you ever gone on a blind date?

No! (laughing) My relationship status is stagnant. If I don’t meet someone in school or musical theater, I meet them at work — I’m a hostess at Genghis Grill.

I don’t do relationships because I don’t feel like I’m mature enough for that. Right now, it’s very sexual and I don’t feel ready for that. If I’m going out with someone I don’t know well, I go out with groups of people.

How do you think your peers will relate to how matchmaking and dating was done a century ago?

I think they will relate just simply because relationships still happen. Just because they are done differently now doesn’t mean anything has changed in the game. Yes, some things are altered, but it’s still the same game they know, and I think they’ll relate to it very well.

Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.