Fayette County Community Theatre Presents Edith Stein This Weekend in Fayetteville
Fayette County Community Theatre presents “Edith Stein” by Arthur Giron this weekend. The play will run July 31-Aug. 2 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fayetteville.
The play tells the true story of Edith Stein, a Jewish intellectual who converted to Catholicism. She joined a Carmelite nunnery and was later martyred in the Holocaust at Auschwitz.
The play is under the direction of Brandon Theut. This is his third time to direct for Fayette County Community Theatre. He’s quite familiar with this play, having acted in a production of it in high school.
“A big part of why I chose Edith Stein is because it faces the challenges of what loving your neighbor actually looks like,” Theut said. “I think in a world where we’re all very opinionated and motivated, It’s easy to forget people are people.”
“This kind of like forces you to look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘How am I?’” Theut added. “We’ve been wanting to branch out. We’re always actively trying to look at audiences we’re addressing. And I think we don’t necessarily address the Christian audience. So it’s nice to bring something like this to them. Hopefully, we’ll be doing more of that in the future.”
Fittingly, the production will take place on the grounds of a local Roman Catholic Church – at the parish hall of St. John, located at 205 E. Bell St. in Fayetteville.
“It’s cool being at a Catholic church,” Theut said. “That was the whole hope and idea, to bring it to them and that they’d be receptive. Everyone I’ve talked to who knows about it is pretty excited.”
The productions on Friday and Saturday will feature a catered meal by Garrett Cooks of Schulenburg. Play-goers can enjoy a fried chicken or herbcrusted pork dinner with potatoes and green beans served at 6 p.m., followed by the show at 7 p.m. Sunday’s performance will be a matinee-only at 3 p.m. There will be concessions available along with drinks for a donation.
The show runs a little over two hours, Theut said.