An emotionally disturbed Ceely Rose (left) suffers the antagonism of her peers Molly Tucker and Tracy Davis in this scene from the general store of the play Ceely. The production was done in the barn at Malabar Farm.

GHOST OF CEELY ROSE—

She was “tetched” as they used to say long ago. Ceely was born in Pike County Ohio in 1873. Her dad was a veteran of the Civil War and her mom—if, in fact she was theirs—was a strong and self assured woman.

The family mysteriously moved from Pike County in about 1880 and settled in a house that stands to this day on Malabar Farm.

The folks in neighboring Pleasant Valley then knew Ceely wasn’t ‘quite right’; perhaps from strains of madness that ran in the family back to their origins in Germany.

Known as “Silly Rose” she was a child in a grown-up body as described by Mark Sebastian Jordan, author and playwrite.

He continued, “Flooded with all the hormonal chemicals but without a mature mind to control them” Ceely fell in love with a young neighbor man. She was going to marry him she declared.

In Jordan’s play presented by the very capable folks from the Mansfield Playhouse and staged in Malabar’s barn over two recent weekends, Ceely’s marriage plans were thwarted by her domineering family.

Ceely eliminated that problem. She thwarted them.

After a confession cleverly obtained by the then Richland County prosecutor she was committed to a state mental hospital in Lima where she died as an old woman.

Ceely was played by Rhiannon Evans a mother of four daughters who lives with her family in Lexington.

Jordan who wrote and directed the play is based in north central Ohio and is a prominent figure in the regional arts scene.

His play was named one of the “Four scariest things to do in Ohio for Halloween” by the Ohio State Tourism Commission in 2004.

Formed in 1929 The Mansfield Playhouse, now celebrating its 40th anniversary in its current location, is Ohio’s oldest continuously producing community theater.

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