By Renee Larr
Fishers provides ample opportunities for children in the areas of sports, music and theatre — but what about the parents?
Fishers residents and husband and wife Ashton Wolf and Sandy Thorne saw a need for an adult theatre group in their own city, and Nickel Plate Players was formed in April of 2014. The group has seen tremendous success with its musical productions and has seen an increased growth in participants since its founding.
“We wish to engage as many people, regardless of their level of ability. That’s the very purpose of our organization — to give people of all types, all ages and all qualification levels an opportunity to have theatrical opportunities,” Wolf said. “To date we have fulfilled a total of 146 production positions.”
The group is managed by Wolf and Thorne along with 12 board members who help execute NPP’s vision.
“What I have admired is their creativity and their passion for not letting go of their vision,” board member Renee Cox said.
That vision for the future includes moving past just the outdoor amphitheater where they’ve been performing since last year.
“One of the things we will be doing is focusing on continuing to acquire an indoor space,” Wolf said. “Given the fact there are some 90,000-plus people in Fishers and there seems to be such a keen interest in seeing this type of cultural activity develop, we’re going to have our board of directors assist us in trying to see that through to fruition.”
A secondary focus for the future will be to attract individuals who have written their own original content.
“To create new musicals is a whole different opportunity, and that is what they’ve done,” Cox said. “That just tells you right there if there is one person in this city that has that talent, imagine what could happen when you have a venue that would attract people.”
With the addition of new, original content, NPP may be able to increase its number of productions per year.
“I think this year we will have an opportunity to look at what a full season for NPP will look like,” board member Amanda Bell said.
NPP is more than just musicals, though, as the group is looking to add smaller plays into the list of upcoming productions with the goal of adding more performers.
“We’re looking at someone to work with to create an original production, or look for a smaller play that is already written but by someone who hasn’t had the opportunity to have their play performed,” Thorne said. “It’s one thing to write it, but it’s very difficult to get it on the stage because it costs money. We’re meeting more and more performers that are excellent actors but they’re not as comfortable with the singing and dancing. It would be an opportunity to involve them, as well.”
The group also hopes to eventually include a publishing arm of NPP, as well.
“Surprisingly enough, we’re finding that writers in the area our coming out of the woodwork,” Wolf said. “We’ve had people who have written three plays and never known where to go with them. We want to be accessible to the people of the community who are writers with the idea that ultimately we want to be able to help facilitate that for writers. This publishing arm will be an operation of ours wherein we will nurture the creation of original content and the publishing the content thereof.”
With lofty ambitions for the future, the Nickel Plate Players feel they could increase their reach beyond just Fishers and Hamilton Co. to all of greater Indiana.
About the Nickel Plate Players
• Officially formed in April 2014 by co-founders and husband and wife Ashton Wolf and Sandy Thorne
• First production — the musical “BEEHIVE” directed by Wolf — performed July 19, 2014, at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheatre and drew an audience of more than 1,000
• Received 2014 Award of Excellence from the Indiana Parks and Recreation Association
• Grant recipient from Hamilton Co. Tourism to write and produce a 2016 bicentennial musical for Hamilton Co. and state of Indiana
• Board of directors includes Wolf, Thorne, Amanda Bell, Lori Friddle, Beth Clark, Tracy Friddle, Renee Cox, Rob Lawyer, Laurie Coyle Quinn, Darrin Gowan, Denise Giannotta, Molly Krause, Joey Box and Patricia Dorwin
• Community sponsors include Fishers Parks and Recreation, Nickel Plate Arts, Fishers Arts Council, Fishers Music Works, The historic Ambassador House, Ji-Eun Lee Music Academy and Propeller Marketing
• More information: NickelPlatePlayers.com
