The exact page text, read by your browser's voice.
January 1974 — born of a parks department cut
Lineage: Arena's roots lie in the Fort Wayne Theatre Workshop, which had produced theatre in the round since 1962 as part of the Fort Wayne Parks Department at the Jefferson Center. When the Parks Department eliminated its funding, the company re-founded itself as Arena Dinner Theatre in January 1974, opening in the Anthony Wayne Ballroom of the Chamber of Commerce building at Wayne and Ewing — a ten-year relationship. Nomadic years followed, until the company bought and renovated its present home, the Fort Wayne Art School's former Little Theatre at 719 Rockhill Street, opening there in 1995 with Chicago. It describes itself as the area's only full-time dinner theatre, a nonprofit community-arts corporation mounting seven productions a season in the West Central neighborhood.
Sources:
- Arena Dinner Theatre, "Our History" (arenadinnertheatre.org) — the Theatre Workshop roots from 1962, the January 1974 re-founding, the Anthony Wayne Ballroom decade, the Rockhill Street purchase and 1995 opening.