By BEAU BROCKETT JR.

beau.brockett@leaderpub.com

BUCHANAN — On Friday, Sept. 13, the Tin Shop Theatre at Buchanan Common will perform “The Old Rugged Cross,” a musical that sold out nearly all its shows and had a reprise when the theater put it on in 2014.

Directors Alice Kring and Judy Ernest took the helm of the musical a second time, and five cast members from Tin Shop’s original production have joined them again.

The 2019 iteration will debut at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

“The Old Rugged Cross” is about a pastor named Jen who tries to both help her church from succumbing to development and help the people she meets while protecting her church.

Each person’s story is told as a vignette that intertwines with the musical’s main storyline, said Patricia Baltazar, of Buchanan. Two dozen hymns help tell those stories.

“There’s a scene about these two people. There’s a scene about this family. There’s a scene about a bride and groom,” Baltazar said. “They’re all brought together by the church and an old, rugged cross.”

Baltazar plays Grandma Ava, who has her own storyline, and a chorus member who often joins other main characters on stage to sing hymns. She was a cast member of the 2014 production.

The story of Grandma Ava and other characters build on one another, she said.

The first scene starts with Pastor Jen patching up her church. She is slowly joined by additional characters who stop by the church with personal issues on their backs, from the seemingly frivolous — such as being unable to smell — to the serious — such as a frustrated bride.

“It’s just really good story about a community coming together,” Kring said. “I thought that it would be great to have it again because Buchanan is so community-oriented [especially] when there’s a cause.”

Kring said she first saw the musical at Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana.

“I was so moved by it, that I’m like, ‘I got to bring this to the Tin Shop,’” she said.

After doing some research, she found the play was written by Dennis McKeen, of Marshall, Michigan.

The Buchanan area and the Marshall area are tied together by old, rugged crosses. Not only will the Tin Shop perform the Marshall musical for a second time, the hymn the musical is named for has connections between the two areas.

George Bennard wrote the first verse of the hymn “The Old Rugged Cross” in 1912 in Albion, Marshall’s neighboring city. In 1913, he debuted it for the first time with a choir and a guitarist at a revival at the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pokagon, a 20-minute drive from Tin Shop Theatre.

The cast members, in contrast, have deep connections between them. All but two are from Buchanan and all but three are members of Buchanan Christian Church.

Baltazar said the connectedness of the cast is the best part of rehearsing.

“We really do become family,” she said. “I’ve experienced that in other shows. There’s just something about that.”

“The Old Rugged Cross” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, 14, 20, and 21 and at 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15 and 22. Tickets between $6 and $13, depending on age, can be purchased by calling the box office (269) 695-6464 or by going online to tinshoptheatre.org.