MIFFLIN – Tucked in a wooded area off Ohio 603 just south of Mifflin lies a striking outdoor amphitheater that seats about 1,700, along with a 90-seat indoor auditorium.
Many local residents see the visually attractive and largely well-maintained complex as brimming with potential. But these days, it sits vacant nearly 365 days a year.
That’s why the complex’s new owner, the Muskingham Watershed Conservancy District, hired a consulting group to conduct research and recommend a model of operation to put the facility to good use — if such a model exists.
“There are no givens in this project,” said Michael Hardy, the lead consultant on the project. “Our mission is simply to find out whether there is a plausible way to continue or revive this theater or whether there isn’t.”
Consultants Hardy, Betsy North, Larry Gustke from Southeastern Theatre Conference held a town hall meeting at the facility Wednesday morning to gather thoughts from area residents and members of the local tourism and arts communities. About two dozen people came to hear about the process, see the theater and share input.
Also working with SETC as a consultant on the project is Brandon Smith, who is CEO of the “Tecumseh!” outdoor drama in Chillicothe, and who worked on the Johnny Appleseed drama that was once housed in the Mifflin complex. The Johnny Appleseed show closed in 2005 after two seasons, and use of the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center dwindled over the years until MWCD, which already owned the land where the theater is located, acquired the facility last year.
Town hall participants included representatives from Ashland Area Econonomic Development, Mohican Area Growth Foundation, Richland County Foundation, Ashland Symphony Orchestra, the theater departments at Ashland University and Ohio State University-Mansfield, Charles Mill Lake Park, Landoll’s Mohican Castle and The Cabin Restaurant, interested area residents and business owners and former Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center director Hal Sheaffer.
“This is your community, your theater,” North told participants. “You work, you live, you play here, and the whole mission of our being here is to gather information from you so that this theater has a new life.”
North asked the group to imagine what the facility could become, and she continually steered the group away from focusing on challenges and toward focusing on opportunities and possibilities.
Ideas for future uses of the space ranged from children’s educational programs to weddings to horse clinics. People suggested opera concerts, rock music shows, Shakespeare productions and Chautauqua-style presentations. Perhaps we could think of the theater as “another Blossom Music Center,” one person suggested, or maybe its programming could focus on the area’s Native American history.
One common thread was that most people felt a single use model might be less sustainable than a model that allowed for some variety and that might bring local and repeat visitors back time and again.
Hardy, who has written a book about outdoor theater design and construction, said he thinks the theater is exceptionally well designed and unusually beautiful, but lacks a backstage or dressing-room area.
Town hall participants also cited handicap accessibility, lack of cover for inclement weather and lack of an acoustical shell as challenges for certain potential uses.
One major challenge, Tricia Applegate pointed out, would be establishing an operational and organizational structure and leadership to sustain programming in the facility.
In addition to holding a town hall, the consultants are also spending time in Ashland and Richland counties, getting to know the area, talking with theater groups and meeting business owners and tourism organizations. They also plan to bring in a theater architect to assess the facility and determine what it would take to make any changes the group may ultimately recommend.
Their findings and recommendations will be presented to MWCD in the form of a feasibility study by Oct. 31. After that, MWCD will have to determine how to proceed.
