Tony-nominated actress and comedian Rachel Dratch ’88 will deliver the 2026 commencement address on June 14, Dartmouth News announced this morning. She will receive an honorary doctorate of arts.
Dratch is known for her tenure on “Saturday Night Live,” where she served as a writer and cast member from 1999 to 2006 and portrayed the iconic sketch character Debbie Downer. She was nominated for a Tony Award in 2022 for her Broadway debut in “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” and currently plays the narrator in a production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Broadway’s Studio 54.
At a panel for the reopening of the Hopkins Center for the Arts in September 2025, Dratch credited her time with Dartmouth student improv group Said and Done for its pivotal role in her career trajectory.
Dratch majored in drama and psychology at the College. She currently serves as a member of the Hopkins Center board of advisors.
Other honorary degree recipients will be announced at a later date.
Kelsey Wang is a reporter and editor for The Dartmouth from the greater Seattle area, majoring in history and government. Outside of The D, she likes to crochet, do jigsaw puzzles and paint.
