By Anna Skinner
In honor of Indiana’s bicentennial year, the Westfield Playhouse, 1836 Ind. 32 W., will be focusing on Indiana history with the performances throughout the year.
“We are part of the Indiana Bicentennial Commission because we decided all of our shows this year are going to be written by an Indiana playwright or set in Indiana or have something to do with Indiana,” said Kate Hinman, board member.
The special year is known to the playhouse as “A Year of Hoosier Plays and Playwrights.” Hinman said a sign should be arriving from the commission soon, and it will be placed outside the playhouse to designate the group as part of the bicentennial celebration.
“We came a long way over the last three or four years in playhouse, and we have become very involved in Hamilton County, so why not expand on that and use that as a celebration for the state of Indiana?” she said.
Westfield Playhouse, which has worked closely with the Westfield Parks Dept. in previous seasons with Voices From the Past events, will be continuing the relationship by assisting the parks department with a performance called “Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd.”
“‘Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd’ is an original musical about the Underground Railroad, and it’s called ‘Follow the Drinkin’ Gourd’ because they would follow the big or little dipper in the sky to head north,” Hinman said. “We will also be working with the parks department again for ‘Voices From the Past,’ which will include three voices from Westfield.”
The next performance will be “Nightingale,” by Don Nigro. The performance will be set on various dates from April 1 to 17.
Other performances throughout the year include “The Nerd” by Larry Shue, “Blue Jeans” by Joseph Arthur and “The Dealer Smiles” by Larry Adams.
For times, pricing and reservation, visit westfieldplayhouse.org.
