With a 3 a.m. wake-up call for his job, WFMZ TV news anchor Jaciel Cordoba is not on an easy schedule for theater rehearsals that run late into the night.

However, despite possible sleep deficits, the co-anchor of “69 News at Sunrise” and anchor for “69 News at Noon” is making his Lehigh Valley stage debut as a cast member of “The Color Purple,” Feb. 25 - March 13, Civic Theatre of Allentown.

Cordoba is taking on the lead role of Mister, the abusive husband of main character Celie in the musical based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize- winning novel.

Cordoba says he first thought about auditioning for the role when he was interviewing “The Color Purple” Civic production director Fredi Walker-Browne for WFMZ.

“I said, ‘I’d be interested in being in the play,’ and she told me to submit videos of me singing,” Cordoba says in a phone interview.

Cordoba went home and recorded himself on his phone in his living room singing a hymn and a Deniece Williams’ tune.

“I knew she was looking for a Mister, but I never thought it would be me,” Cordoba says.

Although Cordoba, an Illinois native, had performed in theater in high school and college, he has not been in a show locally since coming to the Lehigh Valley in 2003 to work at WFMZ.

“The role of Commander Harbison in ‘South Pacific’ was the most lines I ever had,” Cordoba recalls. “But I enjoy talking at work.”

Nevertheless, he says, the size of the role of Mister in “The Color Purple” is a little intimidating.

“Mister sings quite frequently,” Cordoba says. “And he has a lot of lines, but not as many as Celie and Nettie.”

On the other hand, the music is a more comfortable fit for Cordoba.

“I have sung in church all my life,” he says. “I was in senior chorus in high school. I have always performed musically. Singing comes naturally to me. Acting is harder.”

As an adult, Cordoba has sung in choir and served on praise teams at church, most recently at Greater Shiloh Church, Easton.

Cordoba even recruited the music director on his praise team, Daniel Duch, to audition for the show and now Duch is playing Mister’s father.

Cordoba was very familiar with the story although he had never seen the musical.

“I saw the movie and read the book in the 1980s,” he says. “Now I am rereading the book and listening to the songs from the Broadway show.”

Although he was inspired by the story, Cordoba says his main motivation to join the cast was to “do something to get my mind off the isolation of pandemic.

“I was tired of not doing anything and this was a way to break out of it,” he says. “January and February are the worst months of the year and this has been a great diversion.”

Cordoba says he loves working with Walker-Browne.

“Fredi is very helpful and accommodating,” he says. “It’s like getting a master class in theater because I’m in this show with her.”

Cordoba is fielding comments from friends and colleagues who say he’s “too nice” to play the role of such a cruel man as Mister.

“People might not believe I can play mean,” he says “But I’m going to show a mean side. It’s going to be intense.”

So far, the most difficult aspect of being in “The Color Purple” is working around his very early morning schedule in which he co-anchors the news at 5 a.m. with Eve Russo.

After a particularly late night of rehearsal, Cordoba says he let himself sleep until 3:20 a.m.

“Every little minute counts,” he says. “I’m just taking it one day at a time. But it’s going good.”

Cordoba is playing Mister on weekends when he doesn’t have to be up for work.

On Thursdays, Mister will be played by Eric Thompson.

Cordoba says he’s enjoyed working with the cast, most of whom he had never met before.

“It’s a great group,” he says. “The voices are crazy good. I’ve met so many people.”

He hasn’t ruled out future performances in the Lehigh Valley, but for now is focused on “The Color Purple.”

“I’m just going with the flow,” he says. “But I’m so glad I did it.”