EXPERIENCE
Peter Pan
Let Us Entertain You
Derby Dinner Playhouse Celebrates 45 Years
BY LAURA ROSS | PHOTOS COURTESY DERBY DINNER PLAYHOUSE
LEE BUCKHOLZ, producer and artistic director
at Clarksville’s Derby Dinner Playhouse, surveyed
the darkened theatre-in-the-round he’s called
home for more than 30 years. “Forty-five years is
a long time for any theatre to succeed,” he mused.
“But we have not only succeeded, we’ve thrived.”
Derby Dinner Playhouse opened its doors in 1974,
as part of a plan by area businessmen who wanted
to build a convention, sports, and entertainment
complex in Southern Indiana. Today, the sports
complex is long gone, but Derby Dinner Playhouse
remains and is more popular than ever.
“We want to celebrate our 45th anniversary,”
26 EXTOL : APRIL/MAY 2019
said Buckholz. “It’s exciting to think about the
fact that of all the theatres that have closed in the
last 10 years, it’s really remarkable how well we’re
doing here.”
Derby Dinner Playhouse entertains approximately
220,000 people a year with a budget of nearly $7
million. With a record 10,500 season subscribers
on the main stage and over 3,000 children’s theatre
subscribers, Derby Dinner is now one of the most
successful dinner theatres in the country.
While dinner theatre as a concept is more limited
these days, in it’s heyday, dinner theatres drew large
crowds, eager to see former stars in shows that
featured light comedies, tried-and-true musicals
and inexpensively produced shows.
In the late 1970s, Derby Dinner began the “Star
System” – using retired TV and movie stars such
as Mickey Rooney, Van Johnson, Dorothy Lamour,
Jerry Mathers, Bob Denver and Sid Caesar as cast
members.
Those days are gone. Today, Buckholz and his
company produce eight main stage shows, four
Children’s Theatre shows, 12 concerts and offer
a Performing Arts Academy and summer camps
each season.