Amish Acres - Round Barn Theatre

Round Barn Theatre

The Round Barn Theatre is the national home of Plain and Fancy, a 1955 Broadway musical about Amish life and love. It was the first musical for co-author Joseph Stein and composer Albert Hague. Each went on to win Tony Awards for, respectively, Fiddler on the Roof and Redhead. Amish Acres' production of the musical comedy had been running for 21 years in 2007. The musical began with of a cast of four and an upright piano in the Locke Township Meeting House, a replica building designed as a movie theatre, but has evolved into a classic production with a cast of nine on the proscenium stage of The Round Barn Theatre. The building was dismantled, reconstructed and converted to a state-of-the-art theatre seating 400 in 1992. In 1995 repertory theatre was added to Plain and Fancy in rotating performances in the same stage. The company is created from annual auditions held in New York City. Company and cast members are housed in three houses on Amish Acres' campus. A scenic shop, costume shop and rehearsal studio completed in 2006 have made way for The Joseph Stein Young Actors Studio, a series of classes and camps for children 8 to 12 years old and full productions put on by high school students.

This Wooden O, by Frank Ramirez with Richard Pletcher, was published in 2001 as a commemorative edition in celebration of the United States Postal Service dedication of the Amish Quilt commemorative stamps, the first of the American Heritage Series, with the first day issue from the Nappanee Post Office. Ninety-five million of the stamps were printed. The dedication ceremony was held in the Round Barn with a cast of Plain and Fancy alumni singing “Plain We Live,” the anthem from Plain and Fancy. In-house artist Jeff Stillson was commissioned by the postal service to design the cancellation.