Kooman

The past several days have been an emotional roller coaster for Altoona native Michael Kooman and his creative team: going from the high of an award nomination for the critically-acclaimed children’s musical “Finn” to despair after new administrators at the Kennedy Center canceled its national tour.

Contacted Friday by phone, Kooman said his spirits have rebounded because of the “outpouring of support” he has received, especially from people in Altoona, including former classmates he’s not heard from in years.

“I’m really moved by all the support,” said Kooman, a 2002 graduate of Altoona Area High School. He spoke to the Mirror in between interviews from national news outlets, such as the New York Times and CNN. “We’ve been getting a lot of attention. We’re 48 hours into a new direction and we’re getting offers and mobilizing and figuring out what to do. I think there will be a future for ‘Finn,’ but we’re still figuring it out.”

Kooman and his “Finn” collaborators Chris Nee and Christopher Dimond posted the tour’s demise Thursday in a joint statement on Instagram: “While not a surprise given the events of the last week, it is a heartbreak. And we will not abandon the kids we wrote this show for. They are already under attack from every side. We didn’t ask for this joy bomb of a show to be a part of the resistance, but here we are.”

The post referenced President Donald Trump’s election as chairman of the board at the Kennedy Center, after replacing board members appointed by former President Joe Biden with his own loyalists. The board members took a vote and named Trump chair in a meeting held Wednesday afternoon, according to news reports.

In response, Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter resigned and Trump named Richard Grenell as interim Kennedy Center president.

The Kennedy Center said in a statement reported by Playbill that the decision to cancel “Finn” was purely a financial one.

Kooman said the show attracted 21,000 attendees during its month-long, sold-out run at the end of 2024 and it “made a small profit so it’s not hard to draw the line” that the cancellation was more about how the story line could be viewed “as metaphor for the LGBTQ+ experience,” Kooman said. Finn, a shark, realizes he relates better to smaller, gentler, more colorful fish rather than the more stoic and gray sharks.

“Finn feels different and doesn’t fit in,” Kooman explained. “It’s a story about feeling different from the family that raised you. It’s a more universal story about (how) acceptance, inclusivity and diversity in the way we engage with life is a positive thing.”

The positivity has flowed since the cancellation.

The creative team has heard from and captured interest from many theaters as a result of the publicity generated by the Kennedy Center’s decision, especially from other theaters, children’s theaters and producers who fundraise for shows.

Earlier this week, Kooman and his fellow creators earned a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding New Musical. Dates for a national tour were being booked very successfully, too, he said, because of the show’s positive message and uplifting music.

Cast auditions were planned for early summer with the expectation the Kennedy-commissioned work would be touring by the end of the year or early 2026, Kooman said.

While it’s not clear what lies ahead for “Finn,” Kooman remains committed to having the work seen and experienced and is cautiously optimistic based on the support received so far, “I think there is some hope there’s a future for Finn.”