DERBY DINNER PLAYHOUSE
MAKING IT WORK
Caesar Romero
A key to the theatre’s success is how it adapted
to the times and listened to its audience. “Things
have changed,” said Buckholz. “In the last 10 years,
we’ve doubled our season ticket subscriptions,
and the show selection and production quality has
gone up. I travel to New York, Atlanta, Charlotte
and Chicago to bring in talent, and we utilize the
incredibly strong arts talent base in Louisville.”
“This area is an attractive draw for performers,” he
added. “It’s not uncommon for someone to come
in and do a show and still be with us ten years later.
It’s a surprise to them. They’ll sign a contract out
of New York, then arrive here and like it and want
to stay in the area. That’s an amazing opportunity
for them because, as an actor or singer, the minute
you start a show, you’re looking ahead to the next
show and next paycheck. The fact that we’ve kept a
lot of our talent shows we’ve found a nice balance
between our performers, our audience who gets to
know them, and the high quality of our productions.”
Cary Wiger should know. He arrived at
Derby Dinner Playhouse as a young actor and
“Barnstormer” singer in 1985 and never left. A
fledgling career as a high school biology teacher
quickly faded away once Wiger dove into his Derby
Dinner life, which now includes acting, singing
and working in corporate sales.
“Dinner theatre in general has changed over
the years,” Wiger said. “When it started it was a
lot of the silly comedies, and smaller shows, but
it built our audience. The joke was if a theatre was
struggling, throw in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ because
it draws an audience and fills the coffers.”
But over the years, Derby Dinner built that
audience into a large subscriber base that allows
the theatre to be more adventurous with its shows.
“The audience knows us and trusts us to entertain
them with quality shows,” said Wiger.
The intimate in-the-round setting and pre-
show Footnote musical program (formerly called
“Barnstormers”) allow actors to interact with
patrons and get to know their audience. Wiger
laughed, “A few years ago, I had Lasik surgery.
When I’d take my glasses off on stage it was just a
blur, but when I came back for the first performance
after surgery, I could see faces and it scared me!
It changed my perspective. Seeing and getting to
know them made a difference.”
Many of the positive changes at Derby Dinner
came under the guidance and leadership of Bekki
EXTOL : APRIL/MAY 2019
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