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Someone You Know: Kyla

5 mins read
Kyla Wheeler poses in front of her Grandmother's photography.
Kyla Wheeler poses in front of her grandmother’s photography.

You might know Kyla Wheeler from her quick humor as part of the Teacher’s Lounge Mafia comedy improv group. But more likely you would recognize Wheeler’s involvement with Sandy River Players, from her work stage managing and directing plays.

Wheeler moved to Farmington when she was 10 years old. Wanting to follow in her older sister’s footsteps, she joined children’s theater camp and began the hard work of cultivating a career in acting. On days that her parents knew they would be late in picking her up from camp, it was arranged for Wheeler to hang out with the stage crew and help out until her parents could get her. This was Wheeler’s first exposure to the way everything functioned behind scenes, and by fifth grade she had started shifting her focus from acting to the detailed process of putting on a show.

“My middle school class wanted to put on a show and somebody mentioned my name in relation to having experience in directing, so they asked me to do it,” Wheeler recalls. The following year at the time for auditions in the school play, Wheeler had a sprained ankle. She assumed this meant her involvement would be limited but was asked by Debby Muise to be the assistant director.

“Debby has encouraged me so much. People just kept seeing things in me and kept pushing me to get involved,” Wheeler says. As a sophomore Wheeler joined the high school improv group, Curtain Raisers, where she met Dan Ryder. The two still perform improv today as part of Teacher’s Lounge Mafia.

“Really, the interesting thing about me is all the people who saw something in me,” she notes. After being a stage hand for director Jayne Decker, Wheeler was asked to join the board for Sandy River Players. “I just feel like I’m a part of something much bigger. Like I’ve been lucky enough to be a puzzle piece in so many other people’s puzzles.”

Wheeler attributes much of her ability in theater production to the many mentors who have pushed her to keep going and to stay involved, but as she begins talking about her second job, it seems obvious that Wheeler’s passions have been a huge contributing factor.

“I knew that I didn’t want to necessarily take on the difficulty of creating a livelihood out of my love for theater. When I got my job at LEAP everything seemed to make sense. I could do something good for my community, and for the world, and still do good for myself by staying involved with theater,” Wheeler explains.

Wheeler talks about her job at LEAP in similar ways to her talk of putting on shows-working on the behind-the-scenes stuff, helping to put together a program that will be the best it could possibly be for the clients she helps to serve and always bringing a strong sense of community to the work she does. Wheeler’s advocacy for people’s abilities parallels in both of her jobs: on stage with actors and for the family of people she works with at LEAP.

“I don’t think I could move anywhere else at this point. I love it here. I love that my parents are here and I want to be here for them,” Wheeler explains, and then adds, “I’ve stopped feeling the need to make excuses for staying in Farmington. The community here is so wonderful and I’m so busy all of the time doing things I love to do.”

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7 Comments

  1. Kyla, thanks for all that you do to keep community theater alive in our community! Amber: well-written, & good choice (the subject).

  2. Amber, am enjoying your pieces very much. Everyone has a story and you’re good at presenting them.

  3. Kyla has always been able to see the best in others and make it shine. She always brings fun, optimism, love, and enthusiasm to everything she does!

  4. A very talented, savvy and socially conscientious millennial. There is hope for the future:)

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