Editorial Staff
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>By:2'> Susan Holly
In a theatrical sense, the Naples Dinner Theatre staged a resurrection this summer with an energetic production of "Godspell." Indeed, a resurrection is what the theater owners would like to achieve in a business sense as well.
After almost three years in
the dark, the theater was lit up again last December by its new owners, whose
love for the theater at this point transcends the bottom line. "You have
to understand this is a labor of love," says managing director Stuart
Glazer. "You don't go into theater thinking you will make a bundle of
money."
Of course, the owners do hope to make a little money, eventually. Their goal is to break even in three years. In the meantime, they are working overtime to get the word out about this professional theater and offer a quality product that will keep customers coming.
The theater has been humming with activity through the summer. On some days the cast and crew were putting on three different shows — for example, in July a midday Ice Cream Theatre production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" was followed by the main production, "Godspell," with "Rocky Horror Picture Show" attracting the late-night crowd.
"Did you enjoy the show?" Glazer asks of the "Godspell" audience as they leave the theater. "Tell all your friends," he adds with a touch of the plaintive.
Glazer, joined by artistic director Michael Wainstein and associate artistic director Barry Marcus, took over Naples Dinner Theatre last October. All three had been affiliated with the local community theater group, the Naples Players. Marcus, an actor by training, had appeared in several productions with the Naples Players; Glazer worked behind the scenes; and Wainstein was recently hired as artistic director of the group.
The threesome frequently drove by the vacant Naples Dinner Theatre on Immokalee Road, and "everytime we wondered why nothing was happening with it," says Marcus.
The 28,000-square-foot building had been erected in 1975 by Julius Fiske, who owned and operated the theater for 22 years until poor health forced him to close the doors in April 1997. Fiske passed away last May, but not before Glazer, Marcus, and Wainstein had broached the idea of reopening the theater. The Fiske family was receptive to the idea, and the deal was put in motion.
The three new partners moved into the building in November and opened Decemberstyle="mso-spacerun: yes"> 20 with "Forever Plaid." "It was six weeks of hell before that," says Marcus. "Thank God we didn't know what we were in for or we never would have done it. Now we're in it and having such a good time."
The six weeks of preparation involved a significant overhaul of the building. It had to be cleaned, and painted. The lobby was completely redone with an Art Deco look. They put in new sound and lighting systems, fixed the air conditioning, replaced appliances, redid the offices...the list was endless. "All these things began to happen," recalls Marcus. "Plus we were going to New York to hire cast, getting apartments for the cast, furnishing apartments, hiring salespeople who needed to be trained. And all the while the money keeps going out. I don't think we slept more than four or five hours a night for six weeks."
Taking over the Naples Dinner Theatre was a major undertaking, involving not just one business, but two — a theater and a restaurant — "and you have to do both of them well," notes Marcus. The problem so often with dinner theaters is that the dinner part of the equation gets neglected. "We have to remember that this is a dinner theatre not a theatre dinner," says Marcus. "Food is as important as the show, if not more important."
So what do three theater guys with no restaurant experience do when they open a dinner theater? "We hired a brilliant chef," answers Marcus.
They found chef Jacques Perry, who had worked at the exclusive Sanctuary Country Club on Sanibel and Kensington in Naples. "We told him we needed the kind of food that people would expect at their fine country clubs," says Marcus. The menu changes with every show. During Godspell this summer, selections included roast beef with balsamic vinegar demi glaze, veal scaloppini with roasted poblano demi, and saffron risotto with asparagus.
Since taking over the theater, the partners have invested $650,000 in it. Profit has been nonexistent so far, and Marcus and Glazer have foregone salaries for themselves. Both had sold successful businesses in Puerto Rico before retiring to Naples. "Thank God we had that kind of cushion," says Marcus. "Otherwise, we couldn't do this sort of thing."
Their biggest challenge after taking over the Naples Dinner Theatre was simply to let the world know who they were. "We wanted to be clear we were the style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>new Naples Dinner Theatre style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>under new management," Marcus emphasizes. By the end of the original theater's run, its reputation had lagged a bit, and the new managers had to overcome that stigma. They had to make clear they were taking over a building, but that the business was all new. They hired a publicist, spent a fortune in advertising, created a new logo, put up a new sign, and, Marcus adds, wrote "under new management" wherever they possibly could.
"But no matter how much you are publicizing yourself, there's only one thing that succeeds: word of mouth," says Marcus. "Once you get people in a seat and give them great food and a great show, word of mouth gets out."
Their goal is that by the end of the third year, "people at least will know we exist," says Marcus. "Most people in Naples know there is a Barnes and Noble here. They know there is a Walgreen's here. We want them to know we are here."
The key to running any business, says Marcus, who had a successful property management business in Puerto Rico, is to hire the right people to do the right jobs, and let them be in charge of their areas of expertise.
That philosophy has served the theater well thus far. The buzz about both the food and the acting has been good. Even the slow summer season has not been bad. A special discounted $25 ticket — "the deal of the decade," says Marcus — is attracting year-round residents and helping fill seats. In addition, the late-night showings of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" are succeeding in bringing in a younger audience, and the Ice Cream Theatre performances are bringing in a younger audience yet.
For the four months of its first winter season, the theater managed to fill an average of 200 of its 350 seats for each performance. That's not enough to make money, but it's a start. It's also important to remember that the theater attracted these numbers without the benefit of a whole season of group sales, an essential element of any dinner theater's revenues. Typically, group sales account for as much as 50 percent of total sales, explains Wainstein. In Naples, support from individual theatergoers is so strong, however, he anticipates group sales will be somewhat less than that — about 30 percent.
The emphasis over the next year will definitely be developing the theater's group sales. That's where the partners anticipate their greatest growth. "Those buses bring in hundreds of people. We love them," says Marcus. The theater also has worked out package deals with some area hotels that bring people in, particularly from Florida's East Coast.
They will also expand their advertising program. "We advertise everywhere. You can never take your name out of the public eye," explains Marcus. As he points out, "Phantom of the Opera," one of the most successful shows ever, never took its ad out of The New York Times, even when it was sold out for years.
Their strategy is straightforward, says Glazer: Continue to deliver a good product — food and theater — and continue to tell people about it. With that simple plan, the seats may well be packed everyday this season.
style='font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt'>Susan Holly is a freelance writer from Sanibel.