|
|
|
BIOGRAPHY
Ross Wheeler (he/him/his) graduated from Ottawa Township High School in 1992, where he played soccer, placed 11th at state with the Speech Team, played French Horn and mellophone in the band, and was awarded the Arion Award for outstanding music achievement in Choir. It's also where he began his love for singing and the theatre.
In 1998, Ross received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre and Communications from Huntington University, in Huntington, IN. While at Huntington, Ross received both acting and technical theatre scholarships, nearly assuring that he spent every free moment working in the theatre department. Huntington provided opportunities to build, stage manage, design, direct and perform, including 3 summer tours with Doc Rainbow's Colorful All-Star Review. During summers and holiday seasons, he worked as a carpenter and an occasional performer at the nearby summer stock company, Wagon Wheel Theater in Warsaw, IN.
After his graduation from HU, Ross spent a year at Huntington working as their Production Manager/Assistant Technical Director, but left for Chicago after landing a role in Chicago's long running production of Forever Plaid. Joining Actors' Equity Association in 1999, Ross continued work as a "plaid", performing in Stuart Ross directed productions in Chicago, Milwaukee and Las Vegas. Locally, he has performed at Drury Lane Oakbrook, Theatre at the Center, The Royal George, and the Rialto in Joliet. After a few years working as a professional actor in the Chicago area, he attended Concordia University in River Forest, IL to earn his Master of Arts in Teaching in 2005.
Ross Wheeler served as Artistic Director at East Aurora High School in Aurora, IL, teaching Drama I & II, Advanced Acting, Honors Performance, and Technical Theatre I & II. While at EAHS, he also served as department chairperson for the fine arts department for three years, created the technical theatre program, rewrote curriculum and participated in the pilot program of the BACKstage Exam with USITT.
Ross loves to explore exceptional regional theaters across the country. Previous credits include: Guys on Ice, Footloose, Church Basement Ladies: Rise Up O Men (Old Creamery Theater); Next to Normal (Fox Country Players & Heritage Theater Festival), Footloose, Newsies (Crane River Theater); Sweet Charity, Camelot, (Wagon Wheel Theater); and over 900 performances of Frankie or Smudge in Forever Plaid, including 3 productions directed by the author, Stuart Ross. (Drury Lane Oakbrook; Marcus Center, Milwaukee; McLeod Summer Playhouse; Theatre at the Center, Munster, IN; Royal George Theater, Chicago; Flamingo Hilton, Las Vegas).
Of all the roles he gets to play, he is most thankful for the opportunity to play the role of father and husband. He is currently an MFA Candidate for Lighting Design at Northern Illinois University.