Local actor, playwright performing "The Preacher"

Although Northgate-based actor Timothy Brandt accidentally fell into theater just over 10 years ago, it’s now become such an important part of his life that he’s written and is starring in his own one-man show the next two weekends at Freehold Theatre, 2222 Second Ave.

Brandt co-wrote the play, called “The Preacher,” with director Gina Robertson, but he says the idea comes from a combination of his youth growing up in a conservative area of Pennsylvania and the video from the 1991 Genesis song “Jesus He Loves Me,” which stars singer Phil Collins as a evangelist.

“I like big characters and I’ve always wanted to play a TV evangelist,” Brandt said. “He’s not sincere, he’s just trying to swindle money out of you.”

The short description of the play:

THE PREACHER is a comedy about Joe Damonti aka Reverand Earl Smith and his journey to redemption through zany twists and turns in his personal and professional tangles!  A gambler, Joe switches his identity to that of a TV Evangelist to attempt to make a quick buck selling a “One way ticket to Jesus”.  The trials and tribulations related to the show as well as his personal issues with gambling debt lead you through funny and sometimes touching events.

Brandt notes that he’s not trying to poke fun at people who are religious, and that he doesn’t believe all TV evangelists are swindlers, but he has no apoloiges for people who make money off of religion. Similar to what Collins said when his video came under fire, Brandt says, “The only people who should be offended by this are the ones who should be offended.”

Brandt got his start in theater shortly after moving to Seattle in 1997. At the time, he says he was “more of a musician,” and to help train his voice he got involved in musicals, including “Guys and Dolls” and “Fiddler on the Roof,” which eventually led to his involvement in plays, including “Mother Courage and Her Children” and “The Glass Menagerie.”

This weekend’s performance is the debut of “The Preacher,” which Brandt hopes to eventually take to a fringe theater festival. Showtimes are at 8 p.m. June 17, 18, 24 and 25. Tickets cost $10 and are available at the door or through Brown Paper Tickets.