On September 20, in the historic auditorium of the Grand Ole Opry in downtown Nashville, Andrew McBurnie ’22 and Teron Fairchild ’23 were pleasantly shocked to be announced as the recipients of the Josie Award for Best Musical Film of the Year. The Josie Music Awards, established in 2015, is the largest award ceremony for recognizing the accomplishments of independent musical artists.
The men had entered their full-length musical, The Muse, which was co-written with Sam Durnil ’21, into the open application period earlier this year, and they had already been surprised to receive a nomination for the Musical Film category.
Teron and Andrew were pleased to have their work included in the awards ceremony, but were guarded about the potential results. Teron admitted that he and his wife almost turned around as they drove down to Nashville.
“Ultimately, we decided it was a good way to at least celebrate the past six years, so we kept driving,” he says. “But then we won [the award]. I think it was the Lord giving us a bump of new energy. To win an award that champions independent artists for a musical about independent artists, lit a fire to keep going. It felt like affirmation that we are really doing something.”
Receiving the award on the stage at the Opry was electrifying for Andrew, Teron and their families. But more than a metaphorical final bow, the recognition and endorsement of six years of hard work felt more like the curtain opening for a second act.
BACKSTORY: ON OUR WAY
Teron, Andrew and Sam met while students at Olivet. Andrew and Sam, who were juniors when Teron entered as a freshman, were already close friends. The three men overlapped in a few ONU Theatre productions but didn’t really develop a strong connection until spring 2021, when the department held its first ever New Works Festival to encourage creative innovation of stage productions by Olivet students.
Teron had already been writing and producing his own music for some time when the then director of ONU Theatre, Ashley (Sarver) Wachter ’15/’18 MBA encouraged him to write songs for a new musical. Based on a dream he had about the seven deadly sins, Teron got to work on composing and writing lyrics for seven initial songs. He approached Andrew and Sam about writing a plot to go with the music for the debut at the festival.
“I didn’t actually know the guys well,” Teron admits. “But I knew they were capable of great work. I was excited for their collaboration, but looking back I’m sure my enthusiasm and energy was a bit much.”
The two agreed to help, but were somewhat lackluster in their work.
“For a long time, I felt that was just helping a buddy out,” Andrew reflects. “But then the night before the New Works Festival, at the dress rehearsal, I heard everything Teron had written. I knew I had to put together a real plot, so Sam and I got to work.”
The initial premiere of the one-hour version of The Muse at the New Works Festival was somewhat rough and ready, using random set pieces from the theatre department and stringing together a group of musicians to quickly learn and perform the music. The script that Andrew and Sam wrote was complete but a bit unpolished.
Yet, through all the bumps and learning curves, it was widely considered a success. The men were asked to fully develop the production to be officially staged the following spring as part of ONU Theatre’s season of programming.
Sam graduated that spring and moved to Indianapolis to start his career, but Andrew had a fifth year to complete and Teron was still in school too. For most of summer 2021, Teron lived in the basement of Andrew’s family’s house. They spent hours writing and rewriting plot points and adding eight songs to round out the story and the music. The intense writing continued into the fall semester as classes started again. Every so often they would drive to Indy to present their ideas to Sam, who continued to provide invaluable support and critiques of the content. By the time auditions were scheduled for the musical, the men knew they had something special to present. 
In March 2022, The Muse made its official stage debut as a full-length musical in the Blackbox Theatre at Sims.
“We were scared out of our minds on that first night,” Andrew says. “But the process was also extremely fun, and it seemed like people got the story and were really moved by it. At the time, it seemed like a great conclusion to the story.”
The nearly sold-out shows demonstrated a legitimate community interest in the show. So much so, that Andrew and Teron decided to do a cast recording of the music and film the production, which they did the following spring. With support from Olivet administrators and a crowd-funding campaign, they were able to rent equipment and the black box theatre at the University. They invited the original cast to return to campus for a week of rehearsal, restaging and filming in front of an audience.
“Olivet gave us a platform and produced this show,” Teron reflects. “I had no interest in writing a musical — it wasn’t even a thought in my mind before Prof. Sarver encouraged the idea — but then doors keep opening, so we keep working on it.”
WELCOME TO THE SHOW
Since its debut at the festival, Andrew and Teron never really stopped working on The Muse; the work has just shifted over time.
After filming the musical in spring 2023, Andrew and Teron each spent months working on their respective sides of the publishing elements of the project. At the time, Teron lived in Nashville, writing and producing music for artists, and Andrew was in Kankakee County, working as a videographer for a local marketing agency. By summer 2024, the project was complete, but the duo wasn’t quite sure what to do with the music or the film.
Ultimately, they decided to release the music in January 2026, and they published The Muse in its entirety on YouTube for free later in the summer.
The initial audience of the Olivet community probably perceived the biblical themes portrayed by the characters throughout the musical. However, the seven deadly sins aren’t actually explicitly described by the Bible; they’re a theological construct on good and evil. In fact, Andrew and Teron have found that the positive feedback on the YouTube video and in subreddit threads comes primarily from high-school aged musical theatre students, many of whom have different faith backgrounds or more secular views.
“We found that The Muse rides the fine line between being an overtly Christian show and non-Christian,” Andrew explains. “We also found that a wide variety of audiences were moved by it. The seven deadly sins are not a Christian concept, but they can start a conversation. That felt very missional.”
“It’s funny because we wrote seven distinct characters, each of which is based on one of the sins,” Teron says. “But there are so many arguments online about which sin each character is supposed to represent.”
The fact that The Muse is offered in full-length format online, for free, has attracted an expanded range of audiences. On YouTube alone, the film has racked up 44,000 views and in its relatively short time of online availability, The Muse has gained 30,000 followers across all platforms. Additionally, Andrew and Teron have expanded their marketing with a podcast they co-host, in which they discuss the creative process of writing the musical.
“When we felt the conviction to basically give away the musical for free online, it felt good and purposeful,” Andrew reflects. “But I don’t think we anticipated who our primary audience would be. I think we’ve found a niche part of the internet full of young actors who are so happy they’ve found something unique before it gets big.”
THE NEXT ACT
In regards to future plans for The Muse, Andrew and Teron have big dreams for Broadway. They’ve already formalized the project by creating a limited liability company and contract agreements. They have also started independently licensing the book and music to theatre groups. The first non-Olivet production will premiere this fall in Pennsylvania. But the path to professional productions remains a bit elusive.
“Producers are used to rough sketches,” Andrew explains. “They are used to taking a concept, paying creators to flesh it out, and then providing funding to produce an initial run. It’s hard to get people in the mindset to actually watch, understand and believe in a production that is fully realized. Giving The Muse to the internet is our proof of concept.”
“We’ve reached our ceiling on our own; at this point, we need people to come alongside to take it to the next level,” Teron says. “We’re maxed out and I just don’t want the project to die.”
Andrew adds, “We just keep reminding ourselves that we’ve captured it, we own it, and that it could just take years to get to Broadway — and that’s ok. The traditional route is a minimum of seven years from initial concept writing to Broadway. But we’re also not following the traditional path.”
EPILOGUE: ENOUGH
As depicted in The Muse, show business is fiercely competitive and can be exhaustingly demoralizing — whether or not fame and success are earned. Having a strong and collaborative friendship has been invaluable for Andrew and Teron as they’ve continued to navigate their journey.
Teron explains. “I told him before: ‘I want to be friends with you in our 50s.’ If we can get the hard, stinging conversations out of the way now, as we continue working and writing musicals together, we’ll have a great foundation laid for how to maintain a friendship and a professional relationship. We haven’t agreed with everything, but there aren’t many people who I trust more than I trust Andrew McBurnie.” 
“No conversation has ever been nasty or ugly,” Andrew emphasizes about the creative partnership. “There’s never been a moment I felt that someone is trying to take something from me. We’ve made all these tough decisions before money is involved. The level of trust and respect is high.”
“I don’t know if I ‘ve ever felt more purpose than when I’m working on this show,” Teron reflects on the work. “My wife wouldn’t let me quit anyway — she’s believed in it more than I did. There have been so many moments of looking back and seeing how much we’ve done. This has been amazing. I feel that the Lord has been using it for good. There are people who reach out, who didn’t understand the Gospel before watching the show, but they feel they understand a part of the story. We’re just trying to steward this project well.”
Andrew agrees. “This has felt like an ordained project. I know it is because I didn’t even like it for a long time. We’ve gone from when the story kind of sucks to one of the most important things I’ve been a part of. Our hope for this show remains the same — for people to see a story of love and forgiveness that can be found in Jesus.”
View The Muse: An Original Musical on YouTube or stream the cast recordings on all major streaming platforms.
For more information on ONU Theatre and the other 200 areas of study offered by the University, visit Olivet.edu/Academics.
