SHAWNEE, Ohio – After reopening its doors earlier this summer, Tecumseh Theater hosted a stage performance of its monthly “Live from Tuesday Creek” variety show on Saturday, Sept. 4.
The variety show depicts fictional characters in familiar locations throughout Southeast Ohio and features live theater readings interlaced with musical performances, including the ‘WLCN News Desk’ and live ‘commercials,’ all performed by local actors.
Stage performances of the “Live from Tuesday Creek” series began after extensive renovations to Tecumseh Theater and Commons were completed in June, when the historic building’s second floor became open to the public for the first time since 1960.
Tecumseh Theater, 116 West Main Street, was erected in 1908, saved from a wrecking ball in 1976, and has had varied uses since. The Sept. 4 event included live performances from local musicians and dedicated half of its ticket sales to support flood relief efforts in Perry County.
During the performance, Ned N. Ashbaugh in costume as Dr. Bones led the crowd in a percussive rendition of Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land is Your Land.”
Raised in Shawnee, Ashbaugh is a 1964 graduate of Miller High School. He told the Independent he remembers seeing movies in the building next to the theater in the 1950s.
“But [afterward] the building was shut down and went into disrepair,” he told the Independent. “When I walked in there that night [of the grand reopening in June], I was overwhelmed.”
Ashbaugh draws his stage name, Dr. Bones, from his profession as a doctor of chiropractic medicine, and utilizes hand percussion to complete his “one man band.” Performing at the theater, Ashbaugh said, was “thrilling.”
“It was humbling, he said.
The next “Live from Tuesday Creek” stage show will be held Saturday, Oct. 10, and feature Randy Gleason.
