In an old converted church with no indoor plumbing, Main Street Productions (MSP) and Westfield Playhouse has been producing award-winning live theater for 16 years. Westfield has grown enormously since then and is poised to become a dynamo of lasting economic growth. Westfield Playhouse plans to be a part of this growth to keep theater art alive in Westfield, but they need your help to build a new theater in downtown Westfield, to be located at 220 N. Union St.
The current playhouse is small, inconveniently located in Eagletown, increasingly expensive to maintain, and without indoor plumbing. MSP has received permission to build a new theater in the heart of downtown that will seat up to 160 patrons, with sufficient stage area and equipment to present plays and musicals that are not feasible in the old building.
In early 2018 the Board of Directors, consisting of John Sampson, Jan Jamison, Thom Johnson, Kate Hinman, Kevin Shadle, Bill Miller, Jen Otterman, Doug Davis, Rich Steinberg, Tom Smith and Brandi Davis met and voted to move forward with the building of a new playhouse and fundraising began.
Through private donations and grants, they are now just over halfway to the funding needed to build a new playhouse. They still need of $250,000, much of which they hope to raise through grant opportunities and donations of materials and construction work.
According to the MSP board of directors, “It is our hope that our friends and theatre community will help us raise $25,000 of the total amount we still need.”
You can donate to the project by visiting MSP online at westfieldplayhouse.org. Donations can be made through PayPal for a secure online transaction. You can also call them at (317) 402-3341 to arrange to donate in other ways.
Construction should begin this summer, so time is of the essence.
Anyone who gives $100 or more will be mentioned in the 2019 season program.
Any donor that gives $1,000 or more will receive a brass plaque inscribed with your family or business name on a chair at the new playhouse.
“Main Street Productions, Inc. has realized the importance of moving Westfield Playhouse to a new location in the downtown area of the City of Westfield,” said Westfield Playhouse Board President John Sampson. “As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we are very excited with this new opportunity which we are pursuing with the help of the city to grow the Mainstreet experience of Westfield.”
According to Sampson, Westfield made the decision to develop the downtown as a destination for travelers and locals alike to make it a welcome, convenient and enjoyable place to be.
“Westfield Playhouse recognizes this and will support Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Westfield Association, all the restaurants, associated businesses, the new Grand Junction Park, and will add to the downtown attractions,” Sampson said. “We have worked with the Parks Department for the past seven years by presenting ‘Voices From the Past’ and ‘Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd.’ We have worked with our volunteer help for ‘Westfield in Lights’ and will continue to be a part of the growing Westfield downtown.”
Sampson told The Reporter that MSP is proud to be a part of the Westfield and Hamilton County, and the organization looks forward to finding even more ways to give back to the sommunity in their new playhouse.
“Many opportunities await Westfield and we intend to be an integral part of it by relocating the theater arts to blend with the artistic community,” Sampson said. “We would like to work with the Westfield schools, by offering theater classes and presentations to increase the theater arts in the area. Since 1992, MSP has produced 98 full plays, 60 of those in the past 10 years, and 20 outreach produtions in Westfield as the performing arts and we will continue to entertain and educate with the area citizens for many years to come.”
While the new playhouse will offer many opportunities for MSP to grow and better serve their audiences and young actors, it is a bittersweet move for Sampson.
“I am saddened to leave the old location due to the successes we have had even without plumbing and with the cost of maintaining the old building,” Sampson said. “The drive to keep the arts alive in Westfield and the vibrant efforts of the City of Westfield to create an all-round atmosphere of comfortable, close and entertaining destination must include live theater that involves the entire community. We will be working even closer with the City and sharing of theater art with the citizens and visitors that come. We will always be ‘the theater with heart.’”
The mission of Westfield Playhouse/Main Street Productions, Inc. is to create and present quality theatre which balances artistic vision and expression by producing theatre that involves, reflects and nourishes the community it serves. If you want to learn more or donate to the construction of the new theater in downtown Westfield, visit westfieldplayhouse.org.