Under a Leo Midheaven, amidst Lips’ mollifying gusts, was Jesse Wheeler, on a dining room table in Chicago, issued. In Tuscaloosa he has been seen as “Friar Laurence” (Romeo & Juliet, The ACT), “Costard” (Love’s Labour’s Lost, Alabama Shakespeare Project), and “Narrator” (After Dark, Theatre Tuscaloosa).

Favorite roles elsewhere include “Pentheus” (The Bacchae of Euripides), “Ngũgĩ” (An Autobiography of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o), “John” (A Life in the Theatre), “Eugene” (Look Homeward, Angel), and “Peter Van Daan” (The Diary of Anne Frank). Film credits include “Jerry” (At Last, Okemah!), “James Joyce” (James & Djuna), and “Orson” (When the Moon Returns). Director’s credits include Principia Scriptoriae, Earth on the Bread and Butter, and The Ladies’ Locker Room (Assistant).

Jesse earned a bachelor’s in Performance Studies (Northwestern), a doctorate in Ethnomusicology (UCLA), and the Executive MBA (UA).

Love and thanks to Nanda, Gui, and Shelley Maeve!