August 29th was a comfortable Saturday night in Fishers.  There were a few sprinkles of rain but nothing to spoil the energy of the crowd on hand to see Heartlight at the Nickel Plate Amphitheater.

The show Heartlight is the brainchild of local artist Ashton Wolf.  He found plenty of other people around Fishers with acting and musical talent, willing to volunteer time to put together an outstanding production.  Heartlight is as entertaining a show as you will find anywhere.  I haven’t been a theater critic for a long time, but this show gets a solid thumbs up from me.  If Ashton and his crew ever put this show on again, I would highly recommend you go see it.

While watching Heartlight, I also watched the large crowd assembled to see the show.  We have plenty of people in Fishers with theatrical talent.  We have people showing up to see productions like Heartlight and Ashton Wolf’s production at the Amphitheater last year of Beehive, a show dedicated to pop hits of the 1960’s from female artists.  With lots of talented people here, and lots of interest from people wanting to watch artistic productions, is it time for Fishers to take all this to the next level?

It is my view that Fishers, a city that will soon cross the population threshold of 90,000 people, is at a major crossroads.  Will the arts be an ingredient of Fishers’ future?

The Nickel Plate Amphitheater is a wonderful venue, but its design is basically for musical acts.  To put on a show like Heartlight or Beehive, the producers need to be very creative to find a way to get the stage to fit the production.

Is it time for Fishers to get an indoor facility to handle plays and musicals?  OK, let me be clear at the outset.  I am in no way in favor of building a version of Carmel’s Palladium in Fishers.  We could build a very different place that could have a number of other uses, such as a conference center.

I honestly do not know if there is sufficient interest to get a project like this off the ground. It would need financial support from the private sector and/or foundations.   The city could play a role in supporting such an effort, but I wouldn’t necessarily be in favor of the city building such a structure with taxpayer funds.

Is there enough interest, money and volunteer energy to make something like this happen?  I know there are people in Fishers already at work on this idea.

It is my view that a city that is willing to support the arts will draw tangible economic benefits from that investment.  We in Fishers need to study how supporting the arts can make this an even better community in which to live.

Would it make a difference if Fishers had an indoor venue to produce musicals like Beehive and Heartlight?  I think so.  Let’s see what happens next.