The concept is straightforward: Eat a meal, watch a show, all in one place. It’s a simple, yet effective combination. Believe it or not, the practice of “dinner and a show” dates back to Ancient Greece. People would travel from great distances to enjoy a day at the Theatre of Dionysus and bring meals from home. To this day, the same format is used and according to Cary Wiger of Derby Dinner Playhouse in Clarksville, Indiana, “it’s a value package.”
“It was in the late 60s, early 70s,” says Jim Hesselman on the star system that built the modern foundation of dinner theatre as we know it. “You were on contract at MGM or Warner Brothers or whatever and when the studio system fell apart in the 50s and 60s and everybody became independent, you had these actors who were taken care of for decades by the studios,” Hesselman states. “They still had to find work and these people were not old; So they had the rest of their careers to go.” Some of these actors included Ann Miller, Cesar Romero, Van Johnson, and more. Where to find work now? The theatre!
Using the recognition that their studio fame gave them, these once A-list stars began touring the country in shows through what they called the “star circuit.” The concept of the star circuit centered around the idea of creating very similar theatrical experiences at local theaters across the country for stars to come in, mount their touring shows for weeks at a time, then move to the next. These theaters were able to grow and flourish with the steady income from the attraction and began offering new incentives to return. What’s better than a show with a star? Dinner and free parking in the same location!
Even the buildings themselves began to take (similar) shape. In order for these stars to be about to mount and remount shows in various places throughout the country (while also acting as a restaurant), a standard layout was required. Lee Buckholz, Producing Artist Director at Derby Dinner Playhouse, notes that theaters like Derby Dinner use the “Windmill Model,” which is similar to a barn-like structure. “I always tell people I don’t really work at a theater, I work at a restaurants that has a big piece of wood in the middle of it. That’s part of the charm and sort of part of the unique business model that is dinner theatre.”
“I never heard of dinner theatre per se until I was at my great-grandparents house in I think 1980 when my aunt and uncle came in and said ‘we just came from a show at Derby Dinner Playhouse and it was a production of On Golden Pond with Pat O’Brien and his wife and his daughter.’” JR Stuart of Derby Dinner Playhouse recounts as his earliest memory of the experience. “Mind-blowing people that you’ve revered for generations of film-going. To see them live, performing right in front of you- in the round!”
While the light on this system eventually faded, as stars often do, the groundwork was laid for a lasting model. Across the country, new owners bought these once booming theaters and started with a fresh approach: Family.
Once the star theatre model was no longer feasible and these theaters had the opportunity to start anew, it only made sense to base the brand around the community. New owners like Doug Stark of Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre emerged, who has now been part of an almost 50-year operation. “2023 is 50 years since this building opened but it didn’t really start until we got our people coming in here on a regular basis because that’s where the longevity comes from,” remarks Stark. “We’ve had people come in here grandparents, parents, and kids, so I’ve got three generations of people watching like a Mary Poppins. And then when grandma moves into the home, we’ve got two generations, but the kids remember and we try and make it a memorable experience.” The generations that gather and make memories at dinner theaters across the country are what keeps it going.
Family is also present in the structure of running the business. Doug Stark now runs Beef & Boards with the help of his children: Elizabeth Stark Payne, Josh Stark, and, Nick Stark. This holds true for theaters such as The Fireside Dinner Theatre, who is now being run by the third generation of family in Fort Akinson, Wisconsin.
Family has also formed in an unlikely way, according to Jim Hesselman. “I think that paradigm of relationship with the people onstage and that special bond between an audience member and a certain performer or a group of performers probably happens at any theatre where you use those performers more than once and the audience comes back more than once.”
Hesselman continues, “What you’re doing is your bringing the audience and the actor to a place every—ya know—eight weeks. Who sees family, a family reunion, every eight weeks? That doesn’t happen. So when you really analyze it, you’re seeing friends every 6-8 weeks and I think it’s almost impossible for that bond not to happen.”
Dinner theatre has become a viable career path for so many actors, directors, and producers in the industry. Why does this form of theatre lend itself to lifelong “gigs”? Constant work gets them in the door and close connections keep them there. Being able to work consistently year after year, playing an extremely wide range of characters is one of the main attractions to a career in dinner theatre, but it wasn’t something that many performers even knew was possible in the beginning. Listen below to some professionals talk about how they discovered dinner theatre.
See below for two current menus from Derby Dinner Playhouse and Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre. Yum!
