By Tim Arnettlight up the town 15 feb 
WABASH,Indiana – Retired music teacher and local composer Suzie Jones has written a new original musical called “Light Up The Town” which deals with the events surrounding the momentous turning on of the lights atop the Wabash County Courthouse in March 1880. Work on the new musical actually began in 2005 when Jones wrote a piece called “Wabash Is The First.”
Jones, who wrote her first full-length musical about Wabash in 2003, told MiBash News that it took her well over ten years to complete this new musical work. She said that she wrote actual historical figures into her musical, including members of the city council circa 1880. Jones did all the research herself, mainly by looking at microfilm down at the Wabash Carnegie Public Library. This fact is slightly ironic being that she is married to well-known local historian Pete Jones, who was just recognized by the Indiana Historical Society a few weeks ago.
In the musical, the group of local ladies try to influence the men in town not to install the lights because there are so many other pressing issues like paving streets so they don’t get the bottoms of their skirts dirty. The men in the show discuss the cataclysmic or wondrous effects– depending on what side they were on – of electric light illuminating from the courthouse all night long.
Jones had a chance to demonstrate some of the musical in her home on her beautiful 1919 Steinway grand piano, all while MiBash News turned the pages as she played.
Jones said it is a lot of work to write the music, lyrics and dialog. In fact, she couldn’t come up with the number of hours the work took to complete. Wabash-native Kim Grogg Marin will come back to Wabash from her home in New York to direct the musical. Former Art Director of Universal Studios in Hollywood, John Corso, will design the sets and Mary DeLauter will design the costumes.
The auditions for Light Up The Town will take place in the crystal room of the Honeywell Center on Saturday, February 27th, from 2 until 6 pm, and Sunday, February 28th, from 3:30 until 7. The show, which will run about two hours, will play August 12th, 13th and 14th in the Ford Theater.
Original pieces don’t often come up to be performed in Wabash and the great thing, Jones went on to say, is that performers can put their original spin on their performances. She added that it is important for residents to know something about the history of the town they live in.