46 | JULY 21 • 2022 

oey Rankin, about to begin her second year as a musical theater student at 
Western Michigan University, is thrilled to have her first professional role 
in the cast of Nicely Theatre Group’s production of Pippin.
Rankin is in the ensemble for the show that runs July 22-30 inside the 
Berman Center for the Performing Arts in West Bloomfield. The idea of 
the Tony-winning production is finding the right place in meaning and 
significance.
“Getting to do what I love with COVID currently on the wane 
makes me so grateful,
” said Rankin, who has been in many 
musicals at Bloomfield Hills High School and includes 
her favorites as Fiddler on the Roof, A Chorus Line and 
Into the Woods.
Directed by Mitch Master with choreography 
by Mark McCleese, Pippin stars Terri Manning 
as Leading Player and Braden Cooper as 
Pippin. 
The cast is performing a score by 
Stephen Schwartz, who wrote the music 
and lyrics for Godspell and Wicked and 
married a woman from Michigan, 
Carole Piasecki, who brought him 
back to the state to visit family and 
present programming.
“The players in the ensemble 
can be sultry and secretive,
” said 
Rankin, 19, whose interest in 
professional theater started when 
she was 5 and attending a theater 
camp. “I stayed with it ever since 
because I loved the people and the 
work and found musical stories so 
amazing.
” 
Rankin continued her studies 
with Sky’s the Limit Musical Theatre 
Camp and the Actors Avenue Acting 
Studio, which she believes kept her 
focused on career opportunities. 
Dancing studies were at the Bloomfield 
Hills Dance Academy and vocal lessons 
were with a private teacher.
“We would all get together and practice in a 
woman’s basement,
” she recalled. “We would go 
around to the restaurants, perform there and had 
the most fun. I met role models and friends I still 
keep in touch with. 
“I did a lot of theater in Bloomfield Hills High School. I 
was in the musical theater club, International Thespian Society, 
so I was involved in that. I was 
the president and on the board for a 
couple of years. I did a bunch of shows 
and fundraisers and got to be a part of 
creating those things which were just 
amazing.
”
Although she has been brought 
up with Jewish cultural perspectives, 
Rankin’s religious opportunities have 
been expressed through Tamarack 
Camps. She reports that travels have 
taken her to other religious communi-
ties where practices have been observed.
COVID interfered with theater pro-

ARTS&LIFE
THEATER

Theater student makes 
professional debut in Pippin.

Details

Pippin will be per-
formed at 7:30 p.m. 
Friday-Saturday, July 
22-23, and 2 p.m. 
Sunday, July 24. It also 
will be staged at 7:30 
p.m. Friday-Saturday, 
July 29-30. $35, 
(248) 406-6677. 
nicelytheatregroup.org. 

Joey Rankin

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

J

The Stage’s 
Rising Star

