Mr. Colella earned his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre performance from the Cincinnati-Conservators of Music. He received his Masters in Teaching from North Park University, where he studied under nationally acclaimed music educator, Dr. Rollo Dilworth.
Having been involved in the performing arts his entire life, Mr. Colella has been fortunate to have experiences performing on National tours in the United States, Canada, Asia, Germany, and the Ukraine.
Mr. Colella spent six years working on Broadway being mentored from the industry's top directors, composers, and actors. He had the honor of working with Mr. Stephen Sondheim twice, and also had the opportunity to be directed by Tony Award Lifetime Achievement Musical Director, Mr. Paul Gemignani. Mr. Colella had the privilege of sharing the stage with Broadway Tony award winning actors Patti Lupone, Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris, John Mohoney, Sutton Foster, and Karen Olivo.
As an educator, Mr. Colella spent the first five years working at his alma mater, Elk Grove High School, directing plays, musicals, and coaching the speech team (State Championship, 2009). He then moved down the road to Prospect High School for four years, where he taught music and humanities, as well as coaching speech team and directing in their theatre department. While at Prospect, not only did he get an opportunity to direct the award winning all girls show choir, Company, but he was part of the Grammy Award (2012) winning Fine Arts Department. He is very thankful for his time at Prospect.
At Wheeling, Mr. Colella is the Fine Arts Coordinator, as well as the Director of the Vocal Department, as well as the Musical Theatre Department. He also started the D214 Summer Musical Program where he gets to collaborate with colleagues and students across the District. He is beyond proud to continue to call D214 his home.
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Stephen Colella