EDINBURGH — The Rev. Fred Easton has lived a structured and disciplined life in Christian ministry. So he laughed when asked if playing a free-flowing gypsy in Fairy Tale Musical Theatre’s latest production Sunday is especially tough.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “Even though this character’s not really me.”
Except that his character of Cushka plays the violin as Easton has done since second grade. The cleric will enjoy his first stage role ever in the free, whimsical musical “Wizard Oil and the Golden Earrings” at 2:30 p.m. at the Pixy Theatre, 111 S. Walnut St. in Edinburgh. The symbolism-laden show for children and adults alike, another in a line of Columbus counselor Cecile Beavin’s originally scripted productions of life’s wisdom, filled the 250-seat venue last year.
“We almost had to turn people away,” Beavin said.
And organizers expect the same interest this weekend. The shows, which began in Beavin’s living room years ago in Brown County, are known partly for her elaborate, homemade costumes — often constructed from purchases at Columbus’ Sans Souci thrift shop — for fanciful and wise characters who sometimes seem to have stepped out of actual storybooks.
Beavin also frequently builds the sets and borrows and rearranges tunes ranging from folk to opera to bring her tales to life. Husband Michael lends his acting and singing talent to the presentations. The past few years, the productions marked by audience participation have included residents from Columbus, Edinburgh, Nashville, Indianapolis and elsewhere.
Some of those community thespians have labeled Beavin’s fun, funny and insightful shows as “genius.”
Her latest story focuses on an emotionally distant miller who has inherited a mill — and met a group of once-dead ancestors who inexplicably come alive after imbibing an old doctor’s wizard oil, as he calls it. This is no zombie uprising, but a mystery to unravel amid other subplots, including the strength of community.
“For me, the greatest joy of all this (each year) is simply in seeing people in our cast come to claim such wonderful parts of themselves that they don’t always fully realize are within them,” Beavin said.
She added that the process often has allowed her performers to become in some way “more whole” as people, which makes sense for a counselor currently studying Jungian psychology. But she clearly has long known how to set the stage for transformation.
Decades ago, when she served as a Benedictine nun, she produced a version of “Mary Poppins” in a women’s prison with convicted murderers and drug dealers.
So it might be fair to say that the woman who deals in fairy tales has begun gently showing others a step toward change — changing their personal storyline.
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What: Fairy Tale Musical Theatre’s original production of "Wizard Oil and the Golden Earrings"
When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Pixy Theatre, 111 S. Walnut St. in Edinburgh
Admission: Free, but donations are encouraged to support the theater’s operation and restoration.
Information: 812-988-6854
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