Dinner theater

Dinner theater is an entertainment that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play.

Sometimes the play is incidental entertainment secondary to the meal, in the style of a night club, or the play may be a major production.

Audience participation may be a factor in dinner theater, in which the diners may be encouraged to sing or dance with some of the actors. In some cases, diners may be included in a minor way in the plot by exchanging small talk or otherwise interacting with the actors.

Dinner theaters are located all over the United States. The 1970's were the heydey of dinner theaters which provided popular regional entertainment for local audiences. Particularly popular were the dinner theaters who used former movie names to star in the productions. Van Johnson, Betty Grable, Dorothy Lamour, Cyd Charisse, Don Ameche, Lana Turner, Roddy McDowall, Tab Hunter, Jane Russell, Dana Andrews, and Ann Miller are just of few of the stars of the golden era of Hollywood who found success in the field. Also popular were stars and character actors from well remembered television series from earlier years. Burt Reynolds owned a dinner theater in Florida in the early 1980's, as did actor Earl Holliman in Texas. The dinner theater boom seemed to end in the mid 1980's, with a number of them closing and many no longer able to afford celebrities, even faded ones, to star in their productions.

Professional actors and technicians work there to gain resume experience with amateurs who are there for a hobby. If someone wants to learn how a real professional theater works, and usually get paid for it, a dinner theater would be a good place to start.