The Joseph Stein Stage
Dedication remarks by Richard Pletcher, producer
November 1, 1997
Tonight you are going to see the newly revised version of The Baker’s Wife. This play has never seen the lights of Broadway. After tonight, it might.
On opening night of The Baker’s Wife, we dedicated this stage to Joseph Stein, who wrote the book for this show. Plain and Fancy, Mr. Stein’s first work for the musical theatre, was written with Will Glickman. This light hearted look at the differences between the Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and a young couple from New York City, was the first new musical to hit Broadway in 1955. It ran for 462 performances. Now after eleven years, Amish Acres Round Barn Theatre’s perennial production has surpassed 2,000 performances and played before over a quarter of a million patrons. This stage has become the national home of Plain and Fancy.
Producer Richard Pletcher and Playwright Joseph
Stein
Upon his visit to Amish Acres in 1995 to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Plain and Fancy, Mr. Stein was taken by the beauty of this structure, the dedication and talent of its company, and the emphasis placed on telling the story of two cultures. 
He gently insisted that there were more shows to produce in this environment. With his encouragement, we entered the world of repertory musical theatre in 1996. This inaugural season included Stein’s masterpiece, Fiddler on the Roof. Now at his suggestion, The Baker’s Wife has become reality tonight. With the scheduling of Zorba in 1998, Rags in 1999. and Fiddler... for the millennium, this stage has become a virtual Stein theatre festival. This dedication is appropriate because perhaps no other playwright of the Golden Era of American Musical Theatre has better contrasted our cultural differences to prove that they never outweigh our human commonalties. Amish Acres mission is to interpret one society to many others. Joseph Stein epitomizes this connection among people of all origins, backgrounds and faiths, and is the beacon the historic farm and repertory theatre keeps in its sights.
Continuing a tradition begun with our first performance of Plain and Fancy in 1987 through The Baker’s Wife, every future production will be presented with the care of the storyteller, the humor of mankind, the joy of community, and the music of the ages under the guiding light of Joseph Stein. Mr. Stein, this is now your stage. As you have seen, you will be looking down on every performance on this stage. You will please let me know whenever brush up rehearsals are in order? To commemorate the records you’ve broken here at Amish Acres, I present you with the broken gobo that shattered in the light fixture on opening night. Your modesty continues to prevail over all else.
Upon our request, Stein recommended Scott Schwartz to direct this newly revised version of The Baker’s Wife. Perhaps no one is more acquainted with the play, its music and message than Scott, with the exception of the show’s creators: Joseph Stein and his father, Stephen Schwartz.
To conclude this second dedication, I wish to present you with the key to the City of Nappanee from Mayor Larry Thompson who has, with these proclamations, declared today Joseph Stein Day in Nappanee. Your return to Amish Acres has enriched our community again and we invite you to keep coming back. I’d like to present you these red roses for your lovely wife Elisa.
Joesph and Elisa Stein receive a Wedding Ring
quilt from the cast of Plain and Fancy
Writers and Their Work
The
Dramatist Magazine
By Gregory Bossler
Joe Stein sent me a copy of the January, 2006 issue of The Dramatist: The Journal of The Dramatists Guild of America, Inc. The issue's cover articles "Dialogue or Duet?: Composers & Librettists," features under "Writers & Their Work," Joseph Stein, an interview by Gregory Bossler. The six page article covers Stein's path to Broadway from social worker to radio skit writer, to Sid Ceaser's "Your Show of Shows," to "Plain and Fancy," his first Broadway musical, followed nine years later by "Fiddler on the Roof."
In the interview Stein said, "Several years ago, I found out that Plain and Fancy is having a unique life. It has been playing continually at the Round Barn Theatre in Nappanee, Indiana, for 20 years. It seems there's a large Amish community there and it's become a tourist center. Buses come everyday. (I wish!) In the morning, they go to the rug weaver or the blacksmith or whoever else is working there, and at night, they see Plain and Fancy." Our stage was named for and dedicated to to Joseph Stein in 1997 and he remains our inspiration and guiding light in every production we mount.
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