Dinner theater facts for kids

Dinner theater is a super fun type of entertainment that mixes a yummy meal with a live play or musical show! Imagine eating your dinner while watching a cool story unfold right in front of you. Sometimes, the play is just a nice extra while you eat. Other times, the show is the main event, and dinner is a bonus.

Running a dinner theater is like managing three different businesses at once: a live theater, a restaurant, and usually a place to buy drinks. It's a big job to make sure everyone has a great time!

History of Dinner Theater

Long ago, in the Renaissance period, people had special "Madrigal dinners." These were early versions of dinner theater, where folks would eat and enjoy music and performances.

Some of the first dinner theaters, called "theatre restaurants," would serve dinner in one room and then have the play in another.

Famous Dinner Theaters in the United States

Narroway Productions

Narroway Productions is a Christian Dinner Theatre in Fort Mill, South Carolina. It was started by Yvonne Clark and Rebecca Martin in 1996. They first performed in an amphitheater. In 2005, they moved to an old warehouse on Carowinds Blvd. They've created many new shows and even opened shops nearby!

Barksdale Theatre

The Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, was the very first official dinner theater in the United States! It was founded in 1953 by David and Nancy Kilgore. They started by serving a buffet dinner in a room next to the theater for people attending the show.

Drury Lane Theatres

Tony DeSantis started producing plays in 1949 in a tent next to his restaurant in Evergreen Park, Illinois. This was a big hit! So, in 1958, he built his first theater, Drury Lane Evergreen Park. This was the first of six dinner theaters he opened. Today, the Drury Lane Oak Brook Terrace, opened in 1984, is still known for its musicals.

Meadowbrook Theatre Restaurant

The Meadowbrook Theatre Restaurant in Cedar Grove, New Jersey, opened in 1960. It was a huge place with over 700 seats! It closed after 13 years, partly because of competition from Broadway shows nearby.

Candlelight Theatre Restaurant

The Candlelight Theatre Restaurant in Washington, D.C. was special because it was the first place where dinner and the show happened in the same room! Bill Pullinsi came up with this idea in 1959. Later, he opened the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse in Chicago, which had cool new features like a stage that could move up and down.

Barn Dinner Theatres

Howard Wolfe

Howard Douglass Wolfe, from Roanoke, Virginia, is sometimes called the "Father of Dinner Theater." He started the Barn Dinner Theatre franchise in 1961. This chain grew to include 27 theaters across many states! Each theater looked like a barn and had farm-themed decorations. They even had a "Magic Stage" that could disappear and reappear quickly between scenes!

In the early days, the actors in the show also served as your waiters and waitresses! Famous actors like Mickey Rooney performed at The Barn. The Barn in Greensboro, North Carolina, opened in 1964, is the oldest continuously running dinner theater in America and the last of the original Barn Dinner Theatres.

Chaffin's Barn in Nashville, Tennessee, opened in 1967. It was Nashville's first professional theater. Sadly, it closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alhambra Dinner Theatre

The Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida, opened in 1967. It's the oldest dinner theater that is still open today! It has a special stage that gives all 400 seats a clear view of the show.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, started in 1968. They claim to be the largest professional dinner theater in the U.S. Their main stage alone seats 577 people!

Carousel Dinner Theatre

The Carousel Dinner Theatre opened in 1973 and moved to Akron, Ohio in 1988. With 1200 seats, it was once the largest dinner theater in the United States! It closed in 2009.

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana, opened in 1973. It's known for its Broadway shows and concerts, which are performed after a delicious buffet dinner.

Riddlesbrood Touring Theater

The Riddlesbrood Touring Theater Company, based in Stratford, New Jersey, puts on dinner theater, murder mystery shows, and comedy shows. Some of their shows have even been performed in made-up languages!

Westchester Broadway Theatre

Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, NY, opened in 1974. It's the longest-running year-round professional theater in State of New York! They show many Broadway Musical Revivals and special events like tribute bands and comedy shows. In 1991, the theater moved to a bigger space with cool new technology.

The Derby Dinner Playhouse The Derby Dinner Playhouse in Clarksville, Indiana, opened in 1974 and has been running continuously for over 35 years! They also use a "magic stage" similar to the Barn Dinner Theatre.

Popularity and Changes

Dinner theaters were super popular in the United States in the 1970s. In 1976, there were 147 professional dinner theaters across the country! The ones that featured famous movie actors were especially successful. Many Hollywood stars like Van Johnson, Lana Turner, Mickey Rooney, and Debbie Reynolds performed in dinner theaters. Even TV stars like Betty White and Bob Denver were headliners.

However, by the mid-1980s, many dinner theaters started to close. Famous actors found other ways to make money, and audiences sometimes got tired of the same types of shows.

New Beginnings

After the year 2000, new dinner theaters began to open again! For example, a new version of Chicago's Drury Lane Water Tower Place opened in 2004. The Desert Star Theater in Murray, Utah, also opened a dinner theater in 2004. By the end of 2006, the National Dinner Theatre Association had 32 members, which was a big jump from just 9 in 1999.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also led to a new interest in dinner theaters. They became a way to help musicians and performers get back to work and give entertainment to people in a safe way.

Different Kinds of Dinner Theaters

Union vs. Non-union

In the United States, some theaters are called equity theatres because their performers are part of the Actors' Equity Association. This is a union for professional stage actors. Union shows cost more because the theater has to pay for things like lodging, a minimum salary, and insurance for the actors.

Many dinner theaters changed to "non-union" to save money. While non-union actors might still get housing, their salaries are usually lower than those in union theaters.

Commercial vs. Non-profit

Most dinner theaters are commercial businesses, meaning they aim to make a profit. The theater shows often break even, but the restaurant and especially the bar usually make money. Commercial dinner theaters often have shows six or seven nights a week!

Some theaters are non-profit organizations. This means they can get grants and funding from the government or other groups. An example is the Starlight Dinner Theatre in Lansing, Michigan, which uses a school cafeteria for its shows and only has a few performances each season.

Some non-profit theaters use amateur actors, or they might have one professional actor with the rest of the cast being amateurs.

Other Fun Dinner Theater Experiences

Tourist Dinner Theaters

In popular vacation spots like Las Vegas, Branson, Missouri, and Orlando, Florida, you'll find special dinner theaters for tourists. These shows usually stay the same for a long time because most of the audience are visitors, not local residents.

Murder Mystery Shows

Murder mystery games are super popular interactive dinner theater events! In these shows, you get to be a detective and help solve a pretend crime while you eat. Sometimes, the audience even gets to play a role in the show!

Other Unique Shows

• The Wedding Comedy is another interactive show where the audience gets to join in the fun, often at a pretend wedding!
• Riverboat Dinner Cruises combine a show with a meal on a boat, like the Showboat Branson Belle. You get to enjoy the show while cruising on the water!
• Madrigal dinners are often held around Christmas time. They include food, singing, poetry, and a play that takes you back to the Middle Ages or Renaissance periods.
• Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament is a chain of dinner theaters where you can watch knights jousting and riding horses while you eat!

See also

• Cabaret
• List of dinner theaters

Images for kids

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  Howard Douglass Wolfe, known as the "Father of Dinner Theater."