I have to say I was really drifting through life without purpose when I joined Franklin Footlight Theatre in the summer of 2007.  My friends Kathy, Lee, and Jody all dragged me off to auditions for Footlight’s production of Rogers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music.  I had a blast doing that show and took part in the annual end of summer camping trip with the group.  While there the group suggested I audition for Pippin, a show about which I knew nothing.
I had the blessing (tho I hardly called it such at the time) of being cast as Pippin.  I don’t have all that much experience in theatre but I can’t imagine there are too many roles out there that are similar. The character Pippin experiences just about every possible kind of personal failure designed to destroy the will and spirit of a young man, only to be saved in the end by his love for his newly adopted family – and their love for him.
I will always carry a piece of Pippin with me wherever I go, whatever roles I play.  Thank you to Jule Finley and the production team for casting me as Pippin.  You changed my life in much the same way Pippin’s new family changed his.