Growing up in a small town like Columbus, Ohio, where quirky kids weren’t particularly fashionable, TV was my escape into a larger world I could turn on and off: lucky for me, it also came with a proscenium arch all its own. On TV, I discovered films and musicals on film and then soon found my parents’ Broadway cast albums, which I sang incessantly. Television was my gateway drug to theater, to acting, to becoming a writer, producer and director. Because of all this, I love theater, film and TV. In 2003, I had the honor of interviewing Pem Farnsworth (when she was 96 years old), the wife of the inventor of TV (Philo T. Farnsworth), at the Emmy Awards. When I told her how much I loved her story and how I wanted to make a musical out of it, she told me I was meant to do it - she could tell - she could feel it. I've never forgotten this moment.