Cheryl Rhoads is shown in her role as Sister Sarah in the Tempo Players production of Guys and Dolls. When Cheryl lived and worked in Chicago and suburbs in her post-college years, community theater companies offered a great way to get experience in live performances....
Publicity photo of Cheryl during her years in the Chicago theater scene.
Cheryl Rhoads at right and her partner Doug Wood appeared for nine months at the Ruth Page Theater in Chicago's old town in 1983 and 1984. The act had previously been seen at Ben's Comedy Cafe, and ON-TV Special, and the Victory Gardens Studio Theater all to rave reviews in Chicago newspapers. The nine-month run at the Ruth Page Theater won two Joseph Jefferson Awards for both Doug and Cheryl as Best Actor and Best Actress in a comedy revue.
Cheryl Rhoads got her early acting credits at Lyons Township High School in La Grange, Illinois and the University of Iowa where she majored in Drama and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In her post-college years, Cheryl kept busy with community and professional theater companies in Chicago and suburbs such as The Tempo Players in Oak Park, The Second City Touring Comany, The Steppenwolf Theater and a show she created with her partner, The Fine Line Comedy Revue. Chicago is a great town for drama opportunities due to Second City and the Northwestern University School of Drama. In 1984, Cheryl won a Joseph Jefferson Award (similar to the Tony Awards in New York or the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, DC) for best actress in a comedy revue for her work in The Fine Line at the Ruth Page Theater.
Still with the Fine Line Comedy team, Cheryl and Doug appeared twice on The Merv Griffin Show in their first few weeks in Hollywood.
Cheryl and her then comedy partner Doug Wood were invited to lunch by TV pioneer Steve Allen on Aug. 12, 1985. Steve gave Cheryl and Doug pointers on their act which had recently been seen on the Merv Grifffin Show and Motown Revue. Steve and Cheryl later became friends and colleagues when both served on the Advisory Board of the Parents' Television Council.
Cheryl is shown in her role as Mother Goose on the set of the Mother Goose Video Treasury with fellow cast members Bertram Goose, Humpty Dumpty, Mary and her little lamb, and other supporting characters.
Cheryl Rhoads as a fellow actor and fan greets one of her favorite comedians, Jonathan Winters, at the 1987 American Comedy Awards dinner.
Cheryl Rhoads in costume as Mother Goose presents a video tape of the show to former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley in the late 1980s.
Cheryl is pictured as Mother Goose but out of uniform with veteran Hollywood character actor Hal Smith in costume as Old King Cole in about 1987. Among Hal's many memorable roles included his portrayal of Otis Campbell, the town drunk of Mayberry, North Carolinia during the long run of The Andy Griffith Show. "Otis" was given permanent guest privileges at the Mayberry jail and a set of keys so he could let himself in at night and out in the morning....
Cheryl Rhoads makes a personal appearance in her Mother Goose costume for a special audience of one. Cheryl's fans include many children who grew up with the Mother Goose Treasury.
A fringe benefit of working in Hollywood was the opportunity to meet legendary TV & film stars. Here is Cheryl at a breakfast in 1993 meeting two of the most famous cowboy western stars of the 1950s, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
Cheryl directs a staged reading of a screen play by Barbara Schiffman, below right, who was co-writer of "Garage Sale." Included in picture above of the cast are at top left Kristin Rudrud, who co-starred in Fargo as William Macy's wife. Also shown is child actress Katie Hagan who co-starred in "Deep Impact" as Elijah Wood's sister.
Here Cheryl is pictured with the production crew of The People's Choice Awards in about 1997.
Cheryl at left in her Mother Goose costume and Fran Allison. Fran sang on radio for many years in Chicago on the Don McNeil Breakfast Club. She broke new ground and critical raves for her work with puppet master Burr Tilstrom when she hosted the Kukla, Fran, and Ollie children's TV program in the 1950s.
Cheryl has made a specialty of writing and directing comedy shows for children and teen actors such as the acclaimed "Accompanied by Adults" and "Ben Hur Done That." Even more unique has been the several shows she has written and directed for a combination of adults and children actors on stage in the same scenes.
Cheryl is second from left in this picture with her two sisters and three brothers taken at a family reunion in Michigan in 2002. She is the aunt of 14 neices and nephews living in different parts of the US and the great-aunt of more than 30. Her late mother once worked for Warner Brothers Theaters in Chicago and both her parents were residential and commercial real estate brokers in Illinois.
Washington, DC was the home town of the First Lady of the American Stage, Helen Hayes. The city and suburbs have been steadily gaining a reputation as a good theatrical town for several years. After almost 20 years in Los Angeles, Cheryl Rhoads moved to the Washington, DC region in May 2006 to take on new teaching opportunities in a growing market for acting students.
Alex Rocco famously played crime boss and hotel owner Moe Greene in "The Godfather." Here he is (in a Las Vegas casino?) meeting Cheryl Rhoads in the late 1980s. Write your own funny caption and mail it to chrlrhoads@aol.com. Godfather jokes are definitely allowed.
