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The 1997 cast of Tintypes

From its inception in 1968, with the purchase of the Manasses Kuhns farm at auction, the vision of Amish Acres included musical theatre as one of the arts suitable to bring the past to life. Through the stories and songs of America’s finest authors and composers, the magic of musical theatre educates, entertains, and captures one’s imagination. It is this magic that can create tolerance through understanding of the inclusive cultural diversity of the United States. Now international tourists regularly visit the historic farm to experience virtually the same story portrayed in Plain and Fancy, in other Americana classics, whether they be Oklahoma!, Fiddler on the Roof, Shenandoah or The Music Man.

In 1971 George Bledsoe, a fraternity brother and college roommate, and I produced an eight week season of dinner theater in Amish Acres new 100 seat restaurant. I Do, I Do! and Star-spangled Girl sold out the house, cut our table turnover by two thirds and lost $10,000. Did anyone see those shows at our expense? Before the final accounting, plans were drawn for a 400 seat dinner theatre. George held out for a full orchestra, I could not see beyond a piano, unfortunately, that theatre died on the drawing board.

Fast forward eleven years to 1985, a replica of the Locke Township Meeting House was under construction as a movie theatre to feature our documentary film Beyond the Buggy. Jill Stover, a Nappanee neighbor and then owner of Enchanted Hills Playhouse, asked if we could cooperate in any theatrical enterprise. I said sure as long as it’s Plain and Fancy, a delightful 1955 musical about the Amish of Pennsylvania and a couple of cosmopolitans from New York. So another eight weeks were thrown up on stage: four actors, an upright piano and meager props. Peter and Papa Yoder were the same actor who would change from his fatherly beard to the dashing Peter Reber while running from the stage to the rear entrance, out of doors, using an umbrella when necessary. Sold out, lost more money.

Now another thirteen years later, Plain and Fancy will open in the 400 seat Round Barn Theatre, which is another story, surpassing our 2,300th performance, becoming the national home of the musical for over a quarter of a million people. Both the show’s composer, Albert Hague, and author, Joseph Stein, have made pilgrimages to Amish Acres to reminisce and celebrate their first musical show. Hague went on to win a Tony for Redhead and Stein’s credits include the improbable Fiddler on the Roof, acknowledged by many critics as the best and last of the golden era of American musical theatre. At 84 he is currently writing a new musical, hopefully, bound for Broadway based on Thorton Wilder’s The Skin Of Our Teeth. Over & Over, based on The Skin Of Our Teeth, opened in previews at The Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, January 6, 1999. It is the first collaboration between Stein and John Kander and Fred Ebb, the musical team of Cabaret and Chicago fame, since Zorba.

Because of his encouragement and insistence, Amish Acres took an unprecedented step and became Indiana’s only resident repertory musical theatre company for the 1996 season, joining Plain and Fancy, with four additional productions in repertory. Repertory is best explained by the day we performed a special performance of Oklahoma! at 10 a.m., a 2 o’clock matinee of Plain and Fancy, followed by an 8 o’clock repeat of Oklahoma!, a feat requiring nearly 1,500 costume, set and prop changes. It’s simply unprecedented.

Subsequent productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Annie for the holidays, with Godspell thrown in for fun, created Indiana’s first truly up and coming regional theatre, not to be compared to summer stock theatres, but taking its place with Stratford, Ontario’s Shakespeare Festival, Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theatre and Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Shaw Festival. A regional theatre combines the best talent each production requires. Talent from the region has no preferred place but is actively pursued. Goshen’s Jenny Yoder was discovered by Jerry O’Boyle during a church service solo. With her mother, Susan, the Yoder’s carried perhaps two of the most dramatic scenes in Fiddler last summer. David Millbern, an accomplished Hollywood movie actor, recently appeared in Twilight of the Golds produced by Gary Marshall and starring Fay Dunaway. David had his first life-lasting, career-creating, theatrical experience, believe it or not, in Nappanee Civic Theatre’s production of, you guessed it, Plain and Fancy in 1967 as one of the young Miller boys. It was the first time I ever saw the show.

David returned to Nappanee nearly three decades later to star in Joseph in which the seminal role of the Narrator went to Joanna Armington, a school music teacher at South Bend’s Jackson Middle School, who has a masters of music degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. For Annie, nine year old Sarah Jane Mullions came to local auditions for LaGrange, Illinois. Broadway is her goal and we can say the two Annie’s in the contentious news about the 20th anniversary return of the show to the Great White Way have nothing on Sarah Jane. We surrounded her with five orphans from northern Indiana, including three of the five Abbott sisters from Roanoke, who commuted over an hour each way for all 43 performances.

Hoosiers & Holidays

Hoosiers & Holidays - The Theatre at Amish Acres in Nappanee, Indiana, opens its holiday musical patchwork, Hoosiers & Holidays, November 6 through December 28, 1991, for the second season. The eight show per week, eight week production was written by Daniel Stetzel, musical artist in residence, combining the talents of fellow Hoosiers, Hoagy Carmichael and James Whitcomb Riley. The musical kaleidoscope of Carmichael and the timeless poetry of Riley are blended together in an hour and one half show in Amish Acres Locke Township Meeting House, a replica room which seats 160 in a theatre setting.

Carmichael is perhaps best known for his "Stardust", the most recorded song of all time, and such favorites as "Georgia on my mind", and "Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening". When combined with Riley's "Little Orphan Annie" and "When The Frost is on the Punkin'", it makes for theatre in the most entertaining and nostalgic sense.

The Theatre at Amish Acres is best known for its five year run of the revival of Plain & Fancy, the 1955 Broadway hit musical which ran for 468 performances in the Mark Hellinger Theatre. Amish Acres surpassed Broadway's record in July of 1990 and celebrated with the show's composer, television star Albert Hague. Over 800 performances have now been performed on Amish Acres stage.

Next spring a new era of live theatre will begin at Amish Acres as an historic round barn is dismantled and moved to the farm. This new facility will become home to Plain & Fancy and Hoosiers & Holidays with a 350 seat theatre, balcony, and proscenium stage featuring music from a new Steinway grand piano. The acting company is annually selected from auditioned artists from across the United States and is the longest running repertory company in Indiana. Nearly 100,000 persons have seen Plain & Fancy at Amish Acres, many coming from across the country on prearranged motorcoach group visits.

Hoosiers & Holidays will be performed Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m., and Wednesday through Saturday at
8 p.m. Amish Acres is located on U.S. 6, one mile west of downtown Nappanee. For ticket information call 219-773-4188 or write Amish Acres Box Office, 1600 West Market Street, Nappanee, IN 46550.

Hoosiers & Holidays

Hoosiers & Holidays

I Do!, I Do!

I Do!, I Do! - Starring Jerry O'Boyle and Sara Heigard
Plain and Fancy

Plain and Fancy (Learn more about Plain and Fancy)
Oklahoma! - Attended by Chicago WGN TV critic Roy Leonard
Oklahoma Photo Album
Fiddler on the Roof - Starring Jerry O'Boyle
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Starring guest artist David Millbern and Joana Armington
Godspell - Starring Richard Snyder
Godspell Photo Album
Annie - Starring Sara Jane Mullins
Annie Photo Album

Plain and Fancy - (Learn more about Plain and Fancy)
Closer than Ever
Big River - Starring James Ryan Caldwell
My Fair Lady - Starring Laura Freeman
1776 - Starring Richard Snyder
Zorba - Starring Equity guest artist Robert Miller
The Sound of Music - Starring Robin Aronson and Stanley Schorr

Plain and Fancy - (Learn more about Plain and Fancy)
A Grand Night for Singing
Brigadoon - Starring Jennifer Cousins and Benjamin Green
Hello, Dolly! - Starring Equity guest artist Hollis Resnick and Jerry O'Boyle
Annie Get Your Gun - Starring Joanna Armington and Equity guest artist Kent Lewis
Meet Me in St. Louis - Starring Marsha Sofley and Equity guest artist John C. Brown