By Meredith Galyon
Copy Editor
If you are under the impression that the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt is no longer living on, you obviously haven’t heard of the Teddy Roosevelt Repri¬sal. For a chance to see a live version of Theodore Roosevelt, on February 28, 2009, at 7:00 PM in Townsend Auditorium, Ten¬nessee Wesleyan College along with Citizens National Bank will be sponsoring a Theodore Roosevelt Repri¬sal, an act performed by Joe Wiegand that will be a fund raiser benefitting the Ameri¬can Legions Memorial.
Our own Dr. Eric Love has a personal connec¬tion with Wiegand, being friends with him since they were in speech class when they were kids. After chat¬ting about their speeches backstage at an Optimist Club speech contest, Dr. Love mentioned something about Roosevelt being a part of his speech, which sparked a common inter¬est between him and Wie¬gand, who also showed a profound interest in the president. When Wiegand moved away, they later met up at Sewanee, where Wiegand was Student Body president, and pitched the idea to Dr. Love of a ne man show based on Roosevelt’s character. Wiegand followed through with his plan and traveled around the country, from his home at Sewanee to Alaska, Florida, New York, and even performing at the White House for the Bush family on Roosevelt’s 150th birthday. He also performed at Roosevelt’s birthplace. Since Roosevelt was a re¬publican, a lot of Repub¬lican organizations, New York state (where Roosevelt was born), and historical societies have booked Wie¬gand for performances.
The term used for what Wiegand does is a “repri¬sor”, or a person who does reprisals. “I’ve seen some reprisals in my life, but I don’t think I’d seen any¬one do Teddy Roosevelt until Joe,” said Love. “He’s amazing. He just turns into Teddy Roosevelt–he’s so good at what he does.” For both Love and Wie¬gand, Theodore Roosevelt was an inspiring person. “I’ve always been amazed by Teddy Roosevelt,” said Love. “I mean, here’s this geeky guy from the East who went out and made a name for himself by sheer force of his will. It’s incred¬ible.” Roosevelt is most known for his organization of the Rough Riders, the first U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the Span¬ish American War. “When you look at his life from 1858 to 1919, he wasn’t just a president–he was leading what he called “the strenuous life”, and mak¬ing a name for himself. The opportunity I have to reprise him is only a frac¬tion of what it would be to actually be with him,” said Wiegand.
Wiegand became inter¬ested in his role of Roosevelt through his background of politics and public policy, and after reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. “It struck a cord with me,” said Wie¬gand, “and I thought there was something special here. It’s a lot of fun for me to do, especially in a college town where there is a lot of historical interest.”
