The summer after he graduated from West, Keckeisen did his last Topeka show before “Deathtrap.” It was at TCT but in its smaller second venue, the Oldfather Theatre. Keckeisen is a 2008 graduate of Topeka West High School, where he was in several productions, including a February 2008 production of “Fiddler on the Roof.” Keckeisen played the main role of Tevye in the musical that earned national recognition when it was selected by USA Today as the Kansas winner of its annual USA Weekend Showstopper feature. “Honestly, this has been one of the most close-knit casts I’ve ever been part of, and that’s really nice, since it is my first show here, to feel as welcomed as I have been,” he added.Īnd although this is Keickeisen’s TCT main stage debut, he has been in many casts of plays and musicals.
“That was a little intimidating coming into it, knowing I’m kind of the outsider coming into this esteemed group that have done so many shows here before, but honestly, even from the first read through and even auditioning with some of these wonderful, wonderful actors, I was immediately welcomed into the fold and felt like one of the gang,” Keckeisen said Tuesday at a rehearsal. They and the other two cast members, Bruhl’s wife Myra (Erin McGinnis) and their lawyer Porter Milgrim (Gary Luke Foiles), have won or been nominated for TCT’s version of the Tonys, the Renna Hunter Awards. The cast of Ira Levin’s Tony Award-winning play, which opens a nine-show run Friday, includes two TCT Hall of Famers - Jim Ramos as playwright Sidney Bruhl and Phyllis Penney as psychic Helga Ten Dorp. On Friday, he will make his main stage debut in the dark comedy thriller “Deathtrap” alongside some of TCT’s best known actors.
The last time John Keckeisen volunteered at Topeka Civic Theatre & Academy’s Sheffel Theatre, he bussed tables.
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