Hello All!
Let me introduce you to Jonathan Walton, who is playing our “Eitan” in the radio drama. I’ve known Jonathan for nine years now. He’s been a great friend and role model to me in so many ways. I’ve enjoyed our conversations about music, school, life, acting, and the spiritual discussions we’ve had during plays and Bible studies. It’s very obvious that Jonathan puts God first in his life, and that has been a huge blessing to many. Jonathan is also a phenomenal actor. I’ve had the privilege of acting with him in a few plays. I was his gun-loader in the spiritual twist version of “Les Mis,” and when he was “Jesus” in the Christian Youth Theatre production of “JESUS!”, I was the woman who anointed his feet with perfume. He always worked so hard in his roles and I enjoyed acting with him.
When we started with this process and I knew I needed to find a talented guy to play “Eitan,” Jonathan immediately came to mind for two reasons. First, he’s a great actor, a good friend, and had many similarities to Eitan. The second reason is actually rather comical… When Mike, my illustrator, was trying to finish up the cover for “A Cry From Egypt,” I couldn’t stand the way he kept drawing Eitan. He made him look like Moses from “Prince of Egypt.” I kept trying to get Mike to change the way Eitan looked on the cover, but Mike was having the hardest time finding a picture in his mind to help him make the switch. I was trying to think of people we both knew that could possibly look like Eitan. Nothing was clicking for either of us. I finally said, in exasperation, “Ok! Think Jonathan Walton with longer hair!” When Mike brought the revised cover back to me, I was like, “NO WAY!! That’s it!!” So, Jonathan ended up on the cover as Eitan, and it made perfect sense that I should try him out as the part. 
Jonathan Walton as “Eitan”
The day of the cold read, I was camping out in the Campbell University library working on the radio drama. It was finals week, and I had somehow managed to grab a group study room. When Jonathan got out of classes, he met up with me in the library. I knew that I didn’t have a ton of time to decide who was which role, so I immediately threw Jonathan into the middle of everything and asked him to do a cold-read of the proposal scene to see how he did. I read for Ada, and he read for Eitan. He nailed it!! I remember listening to his voice and getting so excited that I forgot to try and act, myself! He even sounded like he was really, truly crying! It was amazing. Just wait until you hear it! That and the whipping scene. Oh goodness! Chills!
Jonathan Walton was home-schooled all through grade school and is currently studying Criminal Justice at Campbell University. He has a passion for music and acting, and has been involved in musical theater for eight years. During that time he performed in more than sixteen productions, and was a stagehand for over twenty productions! Jonathan plays a variety of instruments including the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, banjo, piano, mandolin, and harmonica. Jonathan currently leads worship for the youth group at Sovereign Grace Church in Apex, North Carolina, and also helps play music for his small group and, occasionally, for the worship time at the Sunday morning service. Here’s what Jonathan said about playing his role:
“I really enjoyed playing the part of ‘Eitan’ because of his strength of character. I can relate to the struggles that Eitan deals with, and it made the role easier for me to portray. ‘A Cry From Egypt’ is a book that people of all ages can relate to and learn from. I was encouraged by reading the book, and even more when I actually working on the audio book. The rest of the cast are Godly examples to me, even though many of them are younger than I am. I’ve known all of them for many years, and I have grown to love them even more through the time spent recording. I hope you enjoy the story, and more than that, I hope you learn by listening to it.”
