Arts organizations will have a home at Hendricks Live! venue

People typically come to Plainfield for warehouse jobs and to visit Splash Island water park, but the suburb’s downtown isn’t known as a popular regional destination.

Community leaders say a new entertainment venue along U.S. 40 will transform the area’s reputation.

Hendricks Live!, a 600-seat venue that shares a building with the Plainfield Government Center, will debut March 9 with a performance by Indianapolis party band My Yellow Rickshaw.

“Right now, there’s really no reason for you to come to downtown Plainfield after 8 o’clock on a weeknight,” said Anne Johannson, executive director of promotional organization Main Street Plainfield. “But that’s going to change dramatically.”

Johannson also serves as executive director of The Children’s Ballet, a Danville-based organization that’s one of the community arts partners of Hendricks Live!

The classical ballet school was founded in 1987, when Johannson was among the organization’s first students. Danville High School has hosted all performances by The Children’s Ballet to date.

That changes in May, when the ballet will present “The Golden Cuckoo” at Hendricks Live!, 200 W. Main St.

“We are going to have a state-of-the-art facility and performance hall,” Johannson said. “I can’t wait to give the kids that experience.”

The venue’s other arts partners are the Danville-based Hendricks Civic Theatre, the Avon-based Hendricks Symphony and the Hendricks County Arts Council—another group led by Johannson.

“Most of these groups performed in churches and school auditoriums,” said Chris Petrelli, executive director of Hendricks Live! Inc., the not-for-profit that operates the venue. “This is their opportunity to step things up and professionalize a little bit.”

Hendricks Live! is comparable in size to venues such the Tobias Theatre at Newfields, the Tarkington Theater at Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts and the Schrott Center for the Arts at Butler University. The Toby, Tarkington and Schrott opened in 2008, 2011 and 2013, respectively.

Petrelli said Hendricks Live! has a technological edge because it’s new. He said visitors should expect more than a “cute little theater” in Plainfield.

“I believe this is going to be a major part of [central Indiana’s] creative ecosystem,” he said.

Hendricks Live! is part of the Plainfield Civic Center, which includes the Plainfield Government Center, the Plainfield Chamber of Commerce, a first-floor retail space next to the entertainment venue and a parking garage.

Construction costs for the civic center are expected to exceed $60 million.

Hendricks Live! features a 70-foot-by-38-foot stage that can be converted to a symphony shell, as well as a four-level orchestra pit. Other features include acoustic geometric shapes adorning the front of balcony seating to diffuse reflected sound, a Steinway & Sons Model D concert grand piano purchased thanks to a $200,000 grant from the Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation Inc. and a large green room for passing time backstage.

Johnson said the green room will be especially important for her ballet organization. “We have 150 kids starting at age 3,” she said. “A safe, quiet place to keep them is sorely needed.”

Marquee names

Petrelli, an Indiana University alum who grew up in New Jersey and previously served as director of programs and education at Conner Prairie, described Hendricks Live! as an “adult contemporary listening room” that can accommodate live theater, dance and concerts.

Touring artists are present on the venue’s early schedule, including an April 5 appearance by Five for Fighting, known for 2001 hit “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and an April 24 appearance by pop-rock musician Matthew Sweet. Grammy Award winner Judy Collins will headline the May 2 opening-night celebration, and jazz musician Stanley Clarke will perform on May 9.

“An arts center needs to reflect the character of its community,” Petrelli said. “On paper, we probably will lean a little bit more Nashville than New York. We’ll have country and Americana, blues and jazz, singer-songwriters and sprinkle in some Broadway.”

The venue enlisted Indianapolis-based concert company MOKB Presents, which manages Fountain Square’s Hi-Fi venue, to assist with talent buying.

Petrelli said it’s realistic for Hendricks Live! to attract attendees from as far west as Terre Haute.

“Plainfield had a cultural void, and our county had a cultural void,” said Robin Brandgard, president of Plainfield’s town council. “We can give people the opportunity to see things they wouldn’t otherwise see.”

Hendricks County is listed in the 2020 U.S. Census as the third-fastest-growing county in Indiana.

Plainfield’s downtown gained momentum with the 2022 opening of Prewitt Restaurant & Lounge, 121 W. Main St. The restaurant that revived a century-old movie theater location is assisting Hendrick Live! with its food and beverage menu, Petrelli said.

Plainfield’s plan

Brandgard has been a member of the Plainfield Town Council since 1980, and he’s served as the body’s president since 1992. He said Andrew Klinger, town manager since 2015, made entertainment a priority when Plainfield embarked on a conceptual downtown redevelopment plan in 2017.

“The council and the town manager deserve the credit for this,” Petrelli said. “They’re the ones who responded to the needs of the community.”

Residents called for entertainment options, Brandgard said, while giving high marks to the suburb’s outdoor recreation offerings, its schools and affordable housing.

The former Plainfield Municipal Building at the intersection of Main and Center streets was deemed too small for the growing community. That building was razed to make way for its successor, the Plainfield Government Center. The attached entertainment venue is nearly ready to welcome visitors on March 9.

The town of Plainfield paid for construction with tax-increment financing, which captures tax revenue within a specified zone to pay off bonds for improvements in the zone. The town is helping to incubate Hendricks Live! Inc. as a not-for-profit that oversees the venue.

As Brandgard said, “The town does not want to operate a performing arts center.”

Petrelli said more than half of the venue’s initial operating budget relies on ticket sales, sponsorships, contributions and renting out Hendricks Live!

“We’re grateful that the town recognized that we can’t just build this and push it out into the water and hope it floats,” Petrelli said. “The town is propping it up a little bit and providing some level of cushion as we get started. It’s going to take us a while to get our fundraising engine in order, to get the word out to the community that we exist and build a reputation that we’re a great experience.”

Filling the schedule

Petrelli said he hopes to see activity at Hendricks Live! every weekend.

Sheila Rondeau, founder of Dallas-based experiential marketing company MOGXP, said it’s not easy to fill the schedule of a 600-capacity hall.

​​“There are challenges with having that small of a venue because you simply have to look for the right event, and it can’t be a big one,” said Rondeau, whose resume includes placing country star Tim McGraw in cozy performance settings as part of Bud Light promotions. “Sometimes, you can’t get the return you’re looking for with only 600 seats.”

Rondeau said Hendricks Live! can make its limitations an asset by pitching an intimate environment to groups planning private events.

“Corporations often want to sponsor something that’s a ‘surprise and delight,’” Rondeau said. The Plainfield venue “has room for a VIP event that’s very elegant.”

Hendricks Live! will host its first wedding in May, and a public solar-eclipse viewing party on April 8 will use the venue’s upstairs event space and adjoining outdoor terrace.

The town hired Indianapolis-based Ratio Design to provide concepts for the 86,000-square-foot government center and Hendricks Live!

The Hagerman Group built the facility, and Butler Fairman & Seufert Inc. served as civil engineer consultants.

The interior of the entertainment venue was executed with contributions from Connecticut-based Nextstage Design, Carmel-based acoustical consultant Haverstick Designs and Indianapolis-based audio firm Design 27.

If downtown Plainfield becomes a popular entertainment destination, Petrelli said, it only can happen if Hendricks Live! fulfills its mission to reflect the character of a community bordered by the Indianapolis International Airport to the east and by farms to the west.

“We want to make sure that everybody in the community feels welcome here and that nobody feels as though the arts aren’t for them,” Petrelli said.•