Dinner theater

Dinner theater (sometimes called dinner and a show) is a form of entertainment that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play or musical. In the case of a theatrical performance, sometimes the play is incidental entertainment, secondary to the meal. In the style of a night club, the play may be the main feature of the evening, with dinner less important or optional. "Dinner and a show" can also refer to a restaurant meal in combination with live concert music, where patrons listen to a performance during a break in the meal.

Dinner theater requires the management of three distinct entities: a live theater, a restaurant and, usually, a bar.

The Madrigal dinners in the Renaissance were early forms of dinner theater. Some early dinner theaters, known as "theatre restaurants", served dinner in one room and staged the play in another.

NarroWay Productions is a non-profit Christian Dinner Theatre, founded by Yvonne Clark and Rebecca Martin in September 1996, located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. The theater started out in the "King's Arena" amphitheater. After 8 years of performing at the King's Arena amphitheater, their lease had ended and they were forced to switch locations. In 2005 an old gambling warehouse, on Carowinds Blvd, went for sale. after some negotiation, the owner of the warehouse agreed to sell the property to NarroWay Productions under value. Since then they have written 5+ new shows, they created 3 shops across the parking lot, including a cafe, which has since been closed, a gift shop, and an ice cream shop. They have even hosted a golf tournament.

Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1953 by David and Nancy Kilgore at the Hanover Tavern, was the first formal dinner theater in the United States. After the theatre was established, an adjoining room in the theatre was changed to accommodate a buffet dinner for groups attending the performance, eventually becoming available to all patrons.

Tony DeSantis opened the Martinique Restaurant in Evergreen Park, Illinois and began producing plays in 1949 in a tent adjacent to the restaurant to attract customers. The enterprise was successful, prompting him to build his first theater, Drury Lane Evergreen Park in 1958. It was the first of six dinner theaters he started and a local entertainment fixture for 45 years before closing in 2003. Drury Lane North began operations in 1976 and was sold to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, becoming the Marriott Theatre. Drury Lane Oak Brook Terrace opened in 1984. The facility uses local performers and shows are limited to musicals.

Cedar Grove, New Jersey, was the location of the Meadowbrook Theatre Restaurant, which opened in 1960 with 700+ seats of table service. It closed after 13 years, in part due to nearby competition from Broadway and Actors' Equity Association (Equity) requirements that the facility follow the rules that applied to Broadway theatres, including pay scales and other restrictions.

The first facility where dinner and the show were together in one room was the Candlelight Theatre Restaurant in Washington, D.C. Bill Pullinsi was a theater student in 1959 who conceived and implemented the entertainment concept at the Presidential Arms Hotel during summer breaks. The venture was successful but it was unable to convert to a year-round operation due to the hotel's convention business. Pullinsi returned to his Chicago home and opened the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, first in a building owned by his grandfather, then in a new facility with seating for 550. The Candlelight introduced several innovations, including the hydraulic stage, lighting equipment located in the mezzanine, and stage wagons on wheels.