WHEELING — An innovator in theatre and a beloved late musician will find themselves among the luminaries of the Wheeling Hall of Fame in their September induction.

Quantum Theatre founder Karla Boos and singer William Edward “B.E.” Taylor will be welcomed as part of the 2021 Hall of Fame Class during a Sept. 10 ceremony at WesBanco Arena.

The catered event, to begin at 6 p.m., is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at wesbancoarena.com, or by calling 304-233-7000 Monday through Friday between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

KARLA BOOS

The Boos family settled into Wheeling when Karla Boos was 10. The daughter of Paul V. and Anna Boos graduated from Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy.

Her love of the theater was fortified while working with Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre and the late Hal O’Leary, himself a member of the Wheeling Hall of Fame.

“He was the real deal, so early in my life, of a man of the theater, and what the theater as a kind of frame for your life can offer,” she said. “I’m sure I would not be the person I am today but for Hal.”

From Mount de Chantal, Boos attended Bethany College before moving to the University of Pittsburgh and the California Institute of the Arts. She returned to Pittsburgh in 1990 to create Quantum Theatre. She envisioned it as a laboratory for the new and unique and makes theatre in an environment outside traditional theaters.

Boos has staged productions with artists from Pittsburgh, throughout the country, and the world in spaces that fit intrinsically to that being offered, whether it’s the Union Trust Building, the former North Side Carnegie Library, a Gothic church building, an empty swimming pool, horse stables, or the blast furnaces of a former steel mill.

She frequently directs, sometimes performs and often adapts literature for Quantum’s stages. Boos served as guest curator for the 2018 Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Quantum Theatre’s world premiere, “Chatterton,” based on Peter Ackroyd’s book, under her direction appeared at Trinity Cathedral Pittsburgh as part of the festival.

Boos is a member of the National Theatre Conference, the International Women’s Forum, and the recipient of both the Carol R. Brown Award for Established Artist and its predecessor, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Creative Achievement Award for Emerging Artist.

B.E. TAYLOR

Born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, in 1951, Taylor began calling Wheeling his home in 1982. His band, The B.E. Taylor Group, soon after scored a Billboard hit with “Vitamin L,” which peaked at No. 66 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 and stayed on the chart for eight weeks. The video for that song earned rotation on MTV.

In the Ohio Valley, Taylor became known for his Christmas performances. His association with the holiday began when he contributed a song in 1991 to a radio station’s seasonal compilation that became widely popular. He recorded and released his first Christmas CD, “B.E. Taylor Christmas,” on his own label, Chrishae Records, in 1994. He ultimately would release two additional Christmas CDs.

In December 1996, a one-time performance of the Christmas album occurred at Oglebay Park. That set in motion the B.E. Taylor Christmas Tour that eventually would play annually to audiences across the Midwest. The tour routinely sold out two nights at Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh

and the Capitol Theatre in Wheeling.

Taylor would headline the Capitol more than 40 times. He appeared as guest soloist with the Wheeling and Pittsburgh symphonies and was featured on QVC shopping network performing music from his Christmas CDs. In 2010, WQED-TV and other PBS stations across the country began airing video of the B.E. Taylor Christmas Concert as an annual fundraiser, a tradition that continues today.

Taylor always recognized military personnel at his concerts and, after 9/11, produced a

charity concert held at the Capitol Theatre that raised thousands of dollars. This inspired him to

release “One Nation Under God” in 2004.

Taylor was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2007 and died in 2016. In the meantime, he earned many accolades, including being named a Distinguished West Virginian by then-Gov. Bob Wise.