Brian Ross.

Brian was born and grew up in the U.S. in the greater Boston area, attending a Boston university for two years before joining the Navy as a medical corpsman. After discharge, he continued in the health care field as an Orthopaedic Physician’s Assistant, eventually moving to the mid-coastal region of Maine . This area is unique not only for its physical beauty, but for an exceptional mix of visual and performance artists and Brian found himself, relatively late in life, being drawn into this new and exciting world. Initially intending to contribute on the technical side with set construction, etc., he soon found himself acting and singing in musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, Music Man, and Oliver.

While his urge to sing was eventually satisfied performing with a male a cappella sextet called The Testostertones, it was an association with the Maskers Theatre in Belfast, Maine which allowed him to continue to grow as an actor. Over several years he played such roles as Henry Ford in Camping with Henry and Tom, Cleante in Tartuffe, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, Lt. Clarke in Our Country’s Good, and Clem in Middle aged White Guys.

A continued interest backstage manifested itself in a variety of positions as stage manager, set builder, set designer, producer, member of the board of directors, and eventually house manager. Over time he also began to work with other regional theatres as both actor and set builder and about this time obtained his first professional role in Moliere’s School for Wives with the Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor.

In the spring of 2000, Brian moved to the UK to be married and became involved in the Kent theatre scene. After appearing twice in Canterbury at the Gulbenkian Theatre, (When Suddenly and Waiting for Godot) , and a trip back to the States for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he joined up with some talented, like minded friends to found the Ashcan Theatre Company. Brian is immensely proud of the powerful, thought provoking theatre being produced by this group.

Besides yearly trips to the States which frequently are combined with stage work there, Brian has designed and built all of the Ashcan sets for its productions, as well as acting in many of them, including Adam in McGuinness', Someone Who’s Watching Over Me , Jerry in Albee's Zoo Story, Leroy in Miller's Last Yankee, Deeley in Pinter's Old Times, Serge in Reza,s Art, and recently Jack in Kolvenbach's On an Average Day.