New London — Nichelle “Nikki” Rollins spends her weekdays in the clerk’s office at the Broad Street courthouse, collecting fines, answering phones and processing case files.

Wearing an impassive expression, she tends to the stressed-out people who appear on the other side of the glass window.

She has worked at the Geographical Area 10 courthouse for 17 years, and except for the script or musical score that appears on her desk occasionally, one would never know that in her free time Rollins is a diva, in the best sense of the word, and a drama queen too.

The 46-year-old New London resident has dozens of musical and acting credits to her name at regional venues, having played everything from Mary Magdalene to Glinda the Good Witch and the mother of the main character in “Footloose.” A soprano who also sings in other registers, she performs at weddings, concerts and sporting events.

Earlier this winter, she portrayed jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald in a one-woman show at the Donald Oat Theatre in Norwich. Rollins was honored to play the role, which she said was challenging because she had to sing “scat” style.

“She just has an amazing voice,” said Linda Worobey, deputy chief clerk at the Broad Street courthouse. “When she sings ‘At Last’ by Etta James it gives you goose bumps. That last show she did (the Fitzgerald tribute) was spectacular. You would never know it, because she’s not a showy person. She’s an average Joe.”

Rollins is playing a leading role in the Groton Regional Theatre’s current production of the comedy “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” with the remaining performances scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Unlike her character Sonia, who complains she is “forced to live a succession of tedious days and tedious nights,” Rollins’ life is varied and fulfilling.

“I feel like I’ve found my niche,” Rollins said during an interview at the courthouse. “It’s kind of an escape, too, from daily life. It’s an outlet. When you’re on stage, you become someone else. You take on another personality and can be whoever you want to be.”

At a performance of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” at the Groton Senior Center last week, the audience roared as Rollins, who plays a middle-aged woman stuck in a rut, stood at a window, gobbled and repeated the lines, “I am a wild turkey.”

Amy Kozumplik Kirby, director of “Vanya,” said Rollins is a joy to work with.

“She is a really quick learner and really focused,” Kirby said in a phone interview. “She just has such a playful spirit about her.”

Born in Chicago, she moved to Connecticut as a toddler and has lived in New London since she was 10. Rollins said she has been performing since she was 3, when she would use “whatever implement I could find” as a microphone to belt out the Motown or rock and roll music playing on her parents’ record player or reel-to-reel tape machine.

Her first public performance was at 10, at a church in Chicago, where she was visiting relatives for the summer. She said she sang the line, “And ask me where I’m going. I’m bound for glory” twice.

Her parents encouraged her love of music and took her to see concerts including Earth Wind & Fire, The Spinners, Isaac Hayes and Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Music is still a family pastime. Working with her mother, Leola Wilkerson, Rollins directs the junior choir and women’s gospel choir at her church, Miracle Temple in New London, and the children’s choir and women’s gospel choirs at Niantic Community Church.

Her daughter, 15-year-old Ciara Rollins, has followed Rollins, who is divorced, into the performing arts. Ciara helps out with the church choirs and performs with the Broadway Kids & Company School of the Performing Arts in Niantic.

Rollins is a seasoned pro, but said she still has moments of “nervous anticipation,” where her stomach gets tight, before a show begins. She said she’s comfortable once she gets on stage.

Camilla Ross, president of the Emerson Theater Collaborative, where Rollins has sang and acted in several productions since 2011, said Rollins is “a dynamic performer.”

“She’s very funny and makes to be a great character actor as well,” Ross said. “She sings wonderfully. She’s a great testament to women doing what they want to do, being great mothers, great performers and nurturers and providers.”

Rollins’ long time friend Derrick Williams, a singer, producer and playwright in New London, said that when he stages a play or other performance, Rollins is his “go-to person.” Rollins played Mary Magdalene in Williams’ play, “He is Risen,” which ran for eight years during the Easter season at local churches. Williams said he and Rollins have sung backup for several big acts at Mohegan Sun, including Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, the Doobie Brothers and the late Andy Williams.

“What I admire about her the most is that she’s a perfectionist,” Williams said. “She’s really focused, especially on the singing aspect of things, in being completely accurate with what she does and how she presents herself. If I say study this for tomorrow, I know she’ll have it done.”

Rollins said she doesn’t take herself too seriously.

“I say, ‘Tell me where you need to be and I’ll be there,” she said.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @Kflorin