“’TILL HAS ALL HIS RITES” Love

hen Chelsea Rolfes accidentally came across a big blue envelope from Brilliant Earth in JT Nagle’s backpack, she panicked. She didn’t open it, thank heavens, because she knew that it almost certainly contained a receipt for the engagement ring that she had always dreamed of wearing. It also meant that JT, her partner of seven years at that time, was about to ask for her hand in marriage. But oh, the suspense: She knew it was going to happen, she just didn’t know where or when.

“It was the most shocking day of my life, and I had to keep it all to myself,” said the actor recently with a laugh, as she and JT lounged in the lobby outside of Spencer Theatre, in the UMKC Performing Arts Center where they both finished their master of fine arts degrees in theater (he in 2021, she in 2022).

What came next was even worse. “I kept getting online ads for Brilliant Earth,” Chelsea said. “I knew exactly what they were, but I kept thinking, Why are these popping up on my Instagram?”

To be sure, Chelsea and JT, who today divide their careers between Chicago and Kansas City, had in fact already discussed marriage. But by no means had Chelsea expected a proposal this soon. And now that the secret was out, she couldn’t help wondering how JT would “stage direct” his down-on-bended-knee moment. It finally happened in July 2018, on a pre-arranged “fake” guided tour of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. They stopped in front of the moose display (Chelsea’s favorite animal), with taxidermized mammals as a backdrop. “He got down on one knee,” Chelsea said, “and as it turns out, the tour guide’s wife was standing around the corner filming it.”